Average weekly earnings within Ireland’s financial, insurance and property sectors climbed by 17.6 per cent to €1,688.13 in the 12 months to the end of March, according to preliminary Central Statistics Office (CSO) data.The sectors registered the largest increases in average weekly earnings over the period, with the industrial sector – where weekly earnings increased by 13.1 per cent to €1,276.55 in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year – following. But Ireland’s best-paid sector, on average, was the information and communications sector, a group that includes software engineers, computer programmers and other tech roles. Average weekly earnings for this cohort increased by 7.3 per cent to €1,824.62 in the 12 months to the end of March, the CSO said. Overall, average weekly earnings across the economy stood at €1,074 in the first three months of this year, up 4.4 per cent compared to the same period last year and ahead of the annual consumer price inflation rate of 3.6 per cent in that time. Average hourly earnings rose by 4 per cent to €33.13 in the same period compared to €31.86 in 2025.The figures for the first quarter of 2026 are preliminary and subject to revision when the data is finalised over the coming months. Dr Niall O’Sullivan, statistician in the earnings analysis division of the CSO, said average earnings continue to increase year-on-year due to several factors, including the stable job vacancy rate since 2024.The job vacancy rate in the first quarter was 1.1 per cent, down 0.2 of a percentage point from the fourth quarter of 2025 and little changed from the 1.2 per cent that prevailed in the first quarter of 2024.Ireland’s domestic economy is expected to grow at about half the rate at which it expanded in 2025, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Monday. The Washington-based agency said the slowdown largely reflects a softening of private consumption due to “weaker employment”. Yet, Yan Sun, the IMF’s Ireland mission chief, said the fund is forecasting only a “slight increase” in unemployment this year, “but nothing extraordinary”.