Research published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveals women held just over 26pc of the top 1pc of high-earning jobs last year, while men had almost 74pc of them.
Even though the proportion of women among the top 1pc of earners has jumped by seven percentage points over the last decade, they still only make up just over a quarter of the highest-paid staff.
In the last five years, that proportion has risen by five percentage points, from 21.4pc in 2018 to 26.4pc last year.
Dr Eimear Heffernan, a statistician in the earnings analysis division at the CSO, said the greatest disparity between female representation in all employments and those in the top 1pc of earnings was in the education, and human health and social work sectors.
“In 2023, females represented 72.6pc of all employments in the education sector, compared with 32.2pc of employments among those with earnings in the top 1pc,” she said.
“Similarly, females represented 76.6pc of the human health and social work sector, while accounting for 37.2pc of employments within the top 1pc of earnings.”
The highest portion of high-earning women work in health services and social work, while most of the top male earners are working in the construction sector.
Yet the number of women and men in jobs is almost equal.
Men had almost 51pc of jobs and women had just over 49pc of them last year.
Dr Heffernan said gender representation across all employments was relatively equal.
“Of employments active for at least 50 weeks of the year, males accounted for 50.9pc, while females accounted for 49.1pc,” she said.
Meanwhile, most of the country’s top 1pc of earners live in Dublin.
A total of 57pc of the highest-paid jobs are located in the capital, compared with just 2pc of the top-earning roles in the midlands and border regions.
In Dublin, workers in 90pc of jobs earned less than €115,955 last year.
“Looking at the distribution of earnings by region, Dublin had the highest median annual earnings in 2023, at almost €48,000,” Dr Heffernan said.
“This was almost €13,000 more per year than those in Donegal, which had the lowest annual earnings.
“When it comes to the very high earners, over half of the employments in the top 1pc of earnings lived in Dublin, while the border and midlands regions had the lowest proportion of higher earners.”
She said the word “employment” refers to an individual in a job, but they could be included more than once.
A total of 11pc of the top earners are located in the south-west of the country, 13.5pc in the mid-east, roughly 4pc in the mid-west and west, and 3.5pc in the south-east.
Dublin had the highest median annual earnings last year, at €47,873. This is 11pc higher than the average across the State, at €43,221.
It was followed by Kildare at €46,819, Meath at € 44,902, Wicklow at €44,750, and Cork at €44,348.
The lowest median annual earnings were recorded in Donegal, at €35,010 a year; Monaghan, where the average worker earned €35,894; and Kerry at €37,151.
