Based on Daniel Bell's (1973) predictions of the trends in post industrial society, two issues are addressed. Firstly, that with the changing professional and technical shape of the occupational structure even low level occupations have benefited from real income gains. Second, changes in the occupational structure have been associated with a decrease in income inequality in the Irish labor market. The period examined is from the commencement of centralized wage agreements in 1987 to 1995. The evidence indicates that the proportion of workers earning below an income threshold of L12,500 decreased from 58% to 50% between 1987 and 1995, and for the bottom 20% of wage earners there was a real, albeit modest, increase of 5.2% in average income after tax deductions.