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Court probationers’ earnings gap of 6% in 2023

Official figures show that people who had received a probation order three years earlier earned 6% less than the median weekly earnings of all employees in 2023. 

The figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed, however, that the earnings gap narrowed in the period after the probation order. 

In 2020, the year in which they received a sanction, probationers earned a median income of €518 – 12% less than the earnings of all employees (€589).

Re-offenders earn less 

In 2023, three years after receiving their court sanction, probationers’ earnings were €628 – 6% less than the median earnings of all employees (€665). 

The earnings gap was wider, however, for female probationers. In 2023, three years after receiving a probation order, females earned a median weekly wage of €434, which was €160 less per week than the median earnings of all female employees (€594). 

The CSO says that re-offenders consistently earned less than non-re-offenders. In 2021, a year after receiving probation, re-offenders earned €526 per week, compared with €575 for non-re-offenders. 

Participation rates rise 

The CSO figures also show that people who were released from custodial sentences during 2020 and active in employment in 2023 had slightly lower median weekly earnings (€655) than the overall population of all employees (€665). 

Males released from prison earned 7% less per week than the overall population of male employees, while the gap for females was 23%.

The CSO notes that women typically make up just 8% of the prison-release population.

Overall, the number of former probationers (+2%) and former prisoners (+14%) who were engaged in paid employment increased between January 2020 and December 2023.  

During the same period, the overall employee participation rate rose by 13%.