{"id":431973,"date":"2026-05-04T16:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T16:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/431973\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T16:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T16:04:10","slug":"minimum-wage-workers-in-ireland-face-rents-among-highest-in-europe-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/431973\/","title":{"rendered":"Minimum-wage workers in Ireland face rents among highest in Europe \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Low-paid workers<\/a> in Ireland now face the second-highest level of rental<\/a> expenditure across 21 European Union countries, according to new research examining the reality for those on a minimum wage. <\/p>\n

The \u20ac1,366 average rent across Ireland for a one- to two-bedroom home would cost a worker on the \u20ac2,391 national minimum wage more than half of their monthly income, a report by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) has found.<\/p>\n

Among the 21 EU states with a statutory minimum wage, that 57.2 per cent of income figure for Ireland is second only to the 61.3 per cent those on the lowest permissible salary in Malta would have to pay for accommodation.<\/p>\n

The corresponding figure in Poland is 33 per cent and in France 38.1 per cent.<\/p>\n

The ETUI research also looked at capital cities and found a minimum-wage worker in Dublin would have to find an additional \u20ac306 per month to pay the average \u20ac2,697 rent in Dublin for a one- or two-bedroom home, representing 112 per cent of income.<\/p>\n

The minimum wage in Ireland is the second-highest of any country in the EU, next to Luxembourg, but rents in Dublin were found to be higher than any of the other capitals. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Teacher shortages: High cost of living creates Dublin \u2018brain drain\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In Prague, Lisbon and Paris, average rents were found to be over \u20ac700 more than the minimum wages there. <\/p>\n

Average national rents quoted in the research were based on European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data for 2023, adjusted to 2026 levels using Eurostat Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the findings, European Trade Union general secretary Esther Lynch said the disconnect between rent and pay was unsustainable. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you add in the rising costs of energy and food, working people are left having to borrow for necessities and virtually no disposable income \u2013 making saving to replace essential household appliances, or a dentist visit, an impossibility,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not only bad for individuals but for Europe\u2019s economy. When working people have money in their pocket they spend it in the real economy. The EU must no longer allow money to be siphoned off through financial speculation on people\u2019s homes. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe urgently need to give the European economy a much-needed boost in demand by freezing rents, raising pay and increasing investment in social housing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Separately, research by Ciar\u00e1n Nugent for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions<\/a>-supported Nevin Economic Research Institute<\/a>, found the proportion of Irish 25-34-year-olds dependent on or living with their parents doubled between 2012 and 2024, reaching 42.2 per cent. The European average was 29.3 per cent. <\/p>\n

That is despite Ireland having the highest level of third-level education across the EU. Almost two-thirds of those dependent on their parents (64.9 per cent) are in full-time employment, up from 37.5 per cent in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cSingle adult households are almost non-existent for those under 30 in Ireland,\u201d the author found, putting the figure here at just 1 per cent. In Norway, he noted, 35 per cent of adults under 30 live alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those who do rent in the private sector in Ireland,\u201d he said, \u201cthe deprivation rate (those unable to cover the cost of a minimum essential standard of living) is the fifth highest in the EU at almost one in four (23.5 per cent).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Low-paid workers in Ireland now face the second-highest level of rental expenditure across 21 European Union countries, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,2244,5148,3662,61,60,4106,188696,3665],"class_list":["post-431973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-eu","tag-european-union","tag-housing-crisis","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-congress-of-trade-unions-ictu","tag-nevin-economic-research-institute-neri","tag-renting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}