DUBLIN, Ireland: There are fewer minimum wage employees in Ireland who risk descending into poverty than in any of the 14 countries monitored for a report issued by by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

Entitled, A Comparative Assessment of Minimum Wage Employment in Europe, the study reports that 11.4 percent of minimum wage workers in Ireland are at risk of falling into poverty.

The main reason so few are at risk is that most of these employees live in high-income households, such as students living at home with their parents, or in a home in which a one spouse earns higher wages.

It was also found that in Ireland, 20 percent of minimum wage employees are non-Irish nationals. However, it was noted that at 13 percent Ireland has among the largest group of non-nationals among all countries.

Also, Ireland has the second highest minimum wage, at €10.2 per hour, in Europe, falling to the seventh highest when adjusted for cost of living, according to new research.

About 10 percent of the Irish workforce are receiving the minimum wage, and include occupations that have been heavily impacted by the pandemic.

Additionally, Ireland has the highest educated workforce among all countries monitored. Within the Irish work force, 56 percent are educated to post-secondary or tertiary level.

At 46 percent, Ireland also has the highest percentage of highly educated minimum wage employees, at 46 percent.