The Distribution of Income and the Public Finances. ESRI Research Notes 2014/2/4

The economic crisis, which began in 2008, has seen a dramatic change in circumstances for most of the population in Ireland. It is estimated that average personal disposable income per head has fallen from a peak of around €22,800 in 2008 to around €20,900 in 2014, a decline of 8 per cent1. The rate of unemployment, which averaged 4.7 per cent of the labour force in 2007, peaked at 14.7 per cent of the labour force in 2012 and it is forecast to average 11.5 per cent in 2014. Thus most of the population have suffered a serious decline in living standard but the decline has been most acute for those who lost their jobs