Irish workers took a 3.9% pay cut last year because wages lagged behind inflation, according to new research from Oxfam released to mark International Workers' Day.
The charity said that this equates to a loss of €2,107 in real wages and translates to working 8.3 days for free.
The total loss for workers in Ireland was over €5bn, Oxfam said.
Worldwide, the study shows that workers took a 3% pay cut, and on average worked six days for free in 2022 due to inflation.
The charity said that while workers are seeing wages fall, the top-paid CEOs across the UK, US, India and South Africa enjoyed a 9% pay increase.
"We recognise that figures from any one point in time can be exceptional in some regard but what we are highlighting is a very clear and alarming trend towards widening pay scales and resulting inequality across the globe," said Oxfam Ireland CEO Jim Clarken.
"This International Workers Day, most people across the world find themselves working longer for less and struggling to keep up with the cost of living.
"Perhaps most alarmingly, we've seen progress in reducing extreme poverty grind to a halt with extreme wealth and extreme poverty having increased simultaneously for the first time in 25 years. Poverty is once again on the increase," Mr Clarken said.
Oxfam said there is an urgent need for a national conversation in Ireland about taxing extreme wealth more effectively in order to redress the balance between executive pay and ordinary workers struggling to make ends meet.
