This article is from page 10 of the 2006-08-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
CLARE shopaholics are still lagging behind their city slicker cousins when it comes to the spending league.
People in Clare are ninth in line nationally in terms of how much disposable income they enjoy, while Dubliners have more money to throw about than residents in any other county.
Figures just released by the Central Statistics Office for 2003, the latest year the stats are available for, reveal that Dubliners have an average disposable income of €21,082 while Clare residents have just €17,541 to play with.
That’s in comparison with individual disposable income in Clare in 2002 of €16,210.
Dublin is followed closely by Kildare, where consumers have an annual €19,261 to throw away and Limerick, where earners can spend €18,785 of their annual income.
Cork also scores highly on the rich list, with individual disposable income running at €18,583.
The breakdown showed that workers living in the southern and eastern regions have disposable income which are 2.9 per cent above the national average, but the west, the midlands and the border regions are eight per cent below the State average.
The poorest county in the State in terms of disposable income is Donegal, where denizens have just €15,594 to spend each year.
This is being attributed to the county having suffered a series of major job losses in recent years.
Kerry also performs poorly, with disposable income there running at €16,087, fourth from the bottom.
More than 1,500 jobs have been lost in IDA supported companies in Kerry since 2002.
Disposable income is calculated as total income less deductions for tax and social insurance contributions.
The CSO figures reveal that both actual and disposable income has doubled in the period 1995-2003.
In 1995, average gross earnings were €11,344 compared to €22,553 in 2003.
The statistics also show that the southern and eastern regions are the country’s economic powerhouse.
The value of goods and services produced in these regions rose by a total of 67 per cent between the years 1998 and 2003.