Northern Ireland's highest paid directors received record average remuneration of more than £139,000 sterling (#226,680) last year according to a new survey published today by Belfast-based business advisers, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The survey shows companies in the North were forced to increase salary levels by an average 3.9 per cent last year, to retain staff due to growing competition for key personnel from within Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Despite the growth in the economy, the Northern Ireland Salary Survey shows that wages were largely held in check and last year's increases did not match the 4.1 per cent rise awarded in 1999.
The survey, based on interviews with 278 firms, also highlights a growing trend among companies from the Republic to recruit staff from Northern Ireland businesses. A third of firms in the North said they had lost key executives last year to competitors in the Republic.
Companies hit hardest by staff poaching from firms in the south operated in the IT sector where 43 of firms reported staff losses to Irish competitors.
The financial services sector also reported an increase in the number of staff leaving to join firms in the Republic; 40 per cent of companies who took part in the survey said accountants and finance specialists were top of the recruitment targets.
Mr Paul Terrington, PwC's head of human resource consulting said that some companies in the Republic were offering existing staff from Northern Ireland a bonus to recruit other skilled people from the North.
"The Irish economy is expanding faster than it can attract both experienced managers and skilled labour. Despite the cost of living and the exchange rate differential there is a perception in some specialist fields that the Republic offers better opportunities and more money," Mr Terrington said.
The 2000 Salary Survey shows while average wages in the North increased by 3.9 per cent, they were still below those in the UK.
Companies said the introduction of the euro next year would not severely affect their cost base.
