37,000 workers in a single profession receive Ireland's highest annual earnings

Workers in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector receive the highest average annual earnings in the country. 

That's according to the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) release on the value chain analysis of the ICT sector, which found workers in the sector received €8.5 billion in wages in 2019. 

According to IDA Ireland, the country has gained a reputation as being the heart of ICT in Europe, and the industry employs over 37,000 people. 

Senior statistician at the CSO, Michael Connolly, described the analysis as cross-cutting and drawing on areas such as census, business, labour market and macro economic data. 

He said, "[The sector] generates more wages paid in Irish households than labour intensive areas such as hospitality or construction. The ICT sector has a highly educated workforce: almost two thirds had a college degree or higher. The wage levels may also be explained by the fact that it is also a very productive sector: the value added per hour worked is exceptionally high.

"However, the sector does have a significant gender imbalance. Only 32% of workers in the ICT sector are female. Among Telecommunication Engineers this falls to a low of just 5% women. While large foreign multinationals dominate the job market, domestic companies employed almost half (40,746) of those (90,766) employed in the sector.”

Approximately 63% of the ICT workforce had a third level qualification or higher, which is among the highest in the overall economy. 

The analysis reveals ICT imports and exports amount to a quarter of the GDP for Ireland as a whole.

Mr Connolly continued: "The large foreign multinational ICT companies are making large profits here, most of which flow out to their owners, but they paid almost €4bn in taxes in 2019 before their profits flowed out. As well as their wages paid, they also show some ‘spill over’ of expertise with domestic firms.

"Analysis also shows that around 20% of people who change jobs in the ICT sector go between the foreign multinationals and domestic enterprises."