Median weekly earnings were lowest among one-parent families at €491.20 and highest among married couples with children at €911.35, CSO data shows.

In 2022, females in one-parent families with children accounted for 7.1% of total female employment, while males in one-parent families with children made up 0.7% of total male employment.

The figures are broadly similar to 2016, the CSO has said.

Median weekly earnings among men in married couples were 35.3% higher than among men in one-parent families with children, while women in married couples with children had earnings 63.2% higher than their counterparts in one-parent families.

Weekly earnings were higher among men compared with women across all family types.

In general, male earnings in each family unit type followed a similar trend to the total male population, while a considerably higher proportion of females in one-parent families with children were at the lower end of the distribution.

Statistician Dr Eimear Heffernan said: “In 2022, median weekly earnings for employments among parents in married couples with children were 85.5% higher than those among one-parent families. This compares with 91.4% in 2016.

“Median weekly earnings among males in married couples with children were 35.3% higher than males in one-parent families with children, while females in married couples with children had earnings 63.2% higher than their counterparts in one-parent families.

“Weekly earnings were higher among males compared with females across all family unit types,” she said.

Earnings gap

In 2022, the largest earnings gap between female parents in married couples and one-parent families was in the 25-34 age group where median weekly earnings among females in married couples with children were 102.2% higher than their one-parent counterparts.

“The disparity in earnings reduced with age, with the smallest gap in the 55-59 years age cohort with females in a married couple with children earning 18.7% more than those in one-parent families, Heffernan said.

Earnings distribution

In general, earnings among males in each family unit type followed a similar trend to the total male population, while a considerably higher proportion of females in one-parent families with children were at the lower end of the distribution.

In 2022, 15.9% of males in one-parent families had weekly earnings of less than €450 compared with 12.1% of the total male population.

Almost half (49.1%) of females in one-parent families recorded weekly earnings of less than €450, which was considerably higher than the proportion of the total female population in this earnings bracket (26.0%).