In this week’s Public Policy Bulletin, read about the temporary reduction in excise duty on fuels, CSO’s latest press release, the planned introduction of gender pay gap reporting and the newly released Code of Practice on Equal Pay. We also cover the latest Labour Force Survey from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
Temporary reduction in excise duty on fuels announced
This week, Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, announced a temporary reduction in excise duty on fuels. Reductions of 20 cent and 15 cent per litre of petrol and diesel respectively will be implemented from 10 March to 31 August 2022. A reduction of 2 cent on marked gas oil will also be applied.
Over €2 billion was collected in excise duty on fuel in 2021 and the estimated cost to the Exchequer of the new measures is €320 million.
Read the full press release here.
CSO releases show GDP increase of 13.5 percent in 2021
The CSO released the preliminary Quarter 4 2021 international and national accounts this month.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 13.5 percent in 2021, driven by multinational-dominated sectors. The Balance of Payments Current Account recorded a surplus of €58.8 billion in Ireland’s transactions with the rest of the world in 2021.
International exports of goods for Q4 2021 totalled €73 billion, well exceeding imports of €31 billion. However, on the services side, imports of €99 billion exceeded exports by nearly €16 billion.
In the quarterly national accounts, investment and imports for Q4 2021 were up 76.5 and 22.7 percent respectively from Q3, but industry (excluding construction) experienced a drop of 12.2 percent.
Read the press release here.
Introduction of gender pay gap reporting in 2022 announced
The Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 was signed into law on 13 July 2021 by President Michael D Higgins. Under the Act, businesses will be required to report on pay and bonus differences between male and female employees, which will highlight the pay gap between the genders.
This week, on International Women’s Day (March 8), Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, announced that organisations with over 250 employees will need to report their gender pay gap data in 2022. Employers will choose a ‘snapshot’ date of their employees in June 2022 and will report on the hourly gender pay gap for those employees on the same date in December 2022.
The report, which will need to include a statement from the employer setting out the reasons for the gap, along with measures proposed and being taken to eliminate or reduce that gap, will need to include the following:
- The mean and median hourly wage gap, the former reflecting the entire pay range in an organisation and the latter excluding the impact of unusually high earners.
- Data on bonus pay.
- The mean and median pay gaps for part-time employees and for employees on temporary contracts.
- The proportions of male and female employees in the lower, lower middle, upper middle and upper quartile pay bands.
This approach differs from that of the UK, where similar data is required to be reported, but on an annual basis.
More details will be published in the coming weeks.
Code of Practice on Equal Pay released
This week, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) released its Code of Practice on Equal Pay. This has been approved by Minister Roderic O’Gorman.
The code aims to provide practical guidance to employers, employers’ organisations, trade unions and employees on the right to equal pay, the elimination of pay inequality and the resolution of pay disputes.
The Code of Practice can be accessed through the IHREC site.
Women in Northern Ireland Labour Force Survey published
This week, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) published its most recent Labour Force Survey report. This annual report summarised key labour market statistics for women in Northern Ireland, looking at the period July 2020 to June 2021.
Key points include the following:
- The number of self-employed males in 2021 was more than two and a half times the number of self-employed females
- 60 percent of employed women with dependent children worked full-time, compared to 94 percent of employed males with dependent children
- Females earned 5.7 percent less than males but the gap has decreased over the past 20 years
- The 50 to 59 age group saw the largest gender pay gap of 16 percent, with men earning nearly £2.5 more an hour than women (£15.33 compared to £12.87)
- 31 percent of working aged women were economically inactive in 2021, compared to 24 percent of men
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