The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is calling on the Government to do more to protect the living standards of workers.
To mark May Day, an important day in the trade union calendar, ICTU has published a new report comparing the value of the Social Wage for workers in Ireland and the EU.
The Social Wage is a measure of how much better off individuals are from social spending by Government on supports and services.
ICTU says that Ireland is unusual among EU member states because access to publicly-funded supports is heavily means-tested which means the Social Wage for full-time workers in Ireland is extremely low by EU standards.
According to the ICTU report, a worker in Ireland earning a very modest wage must pay market prices out of their disposable income for essential services - such as housing and healthcare - that workers across the EU can freely access on the basis of need.
"Free or low-cost public services reduce people's out-of-pocket expenses and bring down their cost of living," according to ICTU social policy officer Dr Laura Bambrick.
"They act as a virtual income top-up to people’s cash income from work or welfare," she said.
ICTU says it is publishing today's report as a platform for change and to call for a more generous Social Wage.
"The Covid-19 pandemic and return of 1970s-style inflation has sparked wide public demand for a bigger role for government protecting people’s living standards against common risks," Dr Bambrick said.
"Ireland is a low-tax economy and there is significant space to raise the revenue to pay for additional social spending without putting tax rates above the EU average and eroding national competitiveness," she added.
