Official figures show that average earnings and employment in the public service fell back in the third quarter of this year.
The Central Statistics Office said there were 360,900 people employed in the public sector in September, down 9,500 from June and down 8,200 compared with September last year.
The biggest fall over the year came in regional bodies - where there were 3,400 fewer people working - and the civil service, where there was a drop of 1,200.
Average weekly earnings in September were €969.11, down 0.4% from June but 2.5% higher than in September last year. The earnings figures do not take account of the pension levy and also exclude the health sector.
Average weekly earnings - including overtime - for Gardaí have fallen by 0.8% since September last year. The CSO says average weekly earnings in the public sector have risen by 14.2% in the four years since September 2005.
Separate CSO figures showed that the volume of output from the construction sector dropped by 36.9% in the third quarter of this year compared with a year earlier. Residential building work slumped 55%, while non-residential work fell 31%. The CSO says the average fall for the EU in the same period was 9.1%.
