Women account for two-thirds of Ireland’s low-paid workforce, and for most of them, the core problem isn’t their hourly wage.
It’s actually not getting enough hours to earn a living income, according to Working In Ireland research reported by The Irish Times.
Most Low-Paid Workers Already Earn Above Minimum Wage
The research found that 72% of workers classified as low-paid earn more than Ireland’s €14.15 minimum wage, but still fall short of the “real living wage,” a €15.40-an-hour benchmark meant to cover a single adult’s basic living costs. For this group, insufficient weekly hours, not a low pay rate, is what keeps their earnings down. Retail and hospitality workers, industries where women are heavily represented, were especially likely to face this problem, often unable to secure enough scheduled shifts even at a workable hourly rate.
Younger And Older Women Face The Steepest Hours Gap
Workers aged 16 to 24 make up roughly a third of Ireland’s low-paid workforce, and both the youngest and oldest workers were hit hardest by the hours shortfall specifically, with more than half in each group falling short of the real living wage on a weekly basis. Combined with women’s outsized share of low pay overall, the data points to young and older women as facing some of the steepest barriers to earning a livable income.
Concentrated In A Handful Of Industries
Hospitality, food service, and retail together account for two-thirds of the country’s low-paid workers, with health and social care (sectors where women make up a large share of staff) also showing up heavily in the data. Manufacturing rounded out the list of industries with high rates of low pay.
Why Raising The Minimum Wage Isn’t Enough
Lisa Wilson, one of the report’s authors, said the government’s plan to raise the minimum wage toward a living wage is a reasonable step, since 8 in 10 minimum-wage earners qualify as low-paid overall, and a higher floor would help. It would also reach the one in five full-time workers whose pay rate itself is the issue.
But Wilson said most of Ireland’s low-paid workers, many of them women in retail and hospitality, are already earning above the minimum wage. Their problem is a lack of sufficient hours in jobs that offer little training or room to advance. She argued that fixing this requires addressing the broader conditions of these jobs, including access to hours and career development, not just raising the hourly floor.
Despite The Pay Gap, Engagement Remains High
The research found that about 70% of low-paid workers felt they were doing meaningful work most or all of the time, and 6 in 10 said they felt enthusiastic about their jobs and a sense of belonging. What’s largely missing is a path to better pay: few reported access to real training or upskilling, and opportunities to work with technology were rare, gaps that make it harder to move into higher-paying roles over time.
