A May 2009 survey by the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) shows that, while more employers have increased pay for production workers (13%) than have cut it (10%), a growing majority of companies are freezing wages.
The survey was based on a sample of about 2,500 IBEC members, with a response rate of 20%.
Commenting on the findings, IBEC's Director General, Danny McCoy, stated that "across all of the companies surveyed, the average change to pay rates during the first half of the year was a fall of 4% for management staff; 1.6% for other salaried staff; and 1% for production workers."
Companies were asked what actions they intend taking over the next three months. With regard to production workers, only 2% of the respondents stated that they will increase pay; 7% said that they intend to cut pay; 20% did not state what they will do, and a large majority (71%) revealed that they would freeze pay rates. Recruitment freezes (67%) and retraining of existing staff (41%) were other likely actions.
Employer survey reveals pay freezes in majority of companies at www.eurofound.europa.eu