NOT ONLY do Fermanagh workers get paid less and work longer hours, but their wages are actually falling rather than keeping up with inflation.
While average basic weekly pay across the North in the last year has gone up around 3.6 percent, here in Fermanagh it dropped by two per cent.
According to NISRA’s Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, in the Fermanagh and Omagh district there are in the region of 43,000 jobs, and the mean basic pay is £390.20, a drop of 1.8 percent on the previous year.
Local workers clock up an average of 31.8 hours a week, when both full time and part time are combined. For full time the mean is 39.5 hours, one of the longest in the North.
The figures also show quite a large gender pay gap in the district, with men taking home £441.40, while women earn a mean of £348.30 per week.
Even when you factor in the fact women are more likely to work part-time, the gap remains. Fermanagh men working full time bring home a mean basic weekly pay of £515.30, while the mean basic pay for local women working full time is £483.60.
Prominent local trade unionist, Donal O’Cofaigh from Unite, said the figures confirmed that local workers were falling further behind when it comes to pay.
“The average male worker here is paid 11 percent less, while the average female worker is paid 14 percent less than their equivalents elsewhere in Northern Ireland,” he said, explaining a large proportion of people here, particularly women, worked part time.
“Meanwhile male full-time workers put in longer hours in our council area than average but for substantially less pay.”
Encouraging workers to join their local union, Mr O’Cofaigh added: “Workers in Fermanagh and Omagh need to look at these figures and ask themselves the best way to increase their household’s income. Time and again, it is known that unionised jobs are the best paying, with decent terms and conditions and proper health and safety.”
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