Irish senior management are expecting a pay rise of up to 6 per cent by the end of the year, twice the national rate of inflation. A survey by the Irish Management Institute reports that company executives expect their pay to rise by between 4 per cent and 6 per cent by year end.

However, the IMI chief executive, Mr Barry Kenny, urged business leaders to exercise restraint in salary levels in the year ahead because of fears of a loss of competitiveness following European Monetary Union.

In the 12 months to the end of April last, IMI reports a 4 per cent increase in managerial salaries in the Republic, with the biggest rate of increase at middle management level.

The survey, carried out among 159 companies employing 7,123 managers, shows that a chief executive of a company with a turnover of between £10 million and £20 million earned an average salary of £80,800, up from £62,000 in 1997.

The same executive in a company with turnover of more than £150 million received an average remuneration of £104,210.

At middle management level, the average executive in a company in the £10 million to £20 million turnover range was paid £42,000, while those in the largest companies surveyed received £65,000.

Almost all companies indicated that management salaries were reviewed on an annual basis. Some 87 per cent of companies said they operated a management bonus scheme and, in 20 per cent of those firms, the chief executive's bonus was more than 20 per cent of salary. Middle management was on average being paid a bonus of up to 10 per cent of basic salary.

A third of all Irish companies now operate share incentive schemes, an increase of 30 per cent on 1997. The IMI survey also shows that Irish executives are retiring earlier, with the average retirement age falling from 65 to 60 years.