asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state why his Department have ceased to issue weekly returns of unemployment in the Saorstát, and whether he proposes to keep the public informed by resuming publication of such returns; what number of persons are at present registered as unemployed in the Saorstát; and what number of unregistered wage-earners does he estimate are at present unemployed in the Saorstát.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - WEEKLY UNEMPLOYMENT RETURNS.
I made the following statement in the Dáil on the 30th October last:—
"The unemployment figures have failed to appear for some time. This has been deliberately done, because it has been found that the figures were not being properly understood. There was no distinction made in those figures published as between unemployed and in insurable occupations, and the unemployed generally, and the figures did not represent a true index of the unemployed problem in the country; as they were being misconstrued, it was thought better to discontinue them."
It is not proposed to publish corresponding figures until some better system of unemployment statistics has been set up.
The following are the numbers of persons who were registered for employment (on the Live Register) at the several Exchanges and Branch Employment Offices of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce at 23rd February, 1925:—
|
Men |
43,717 |
|
Women |
7,912 |
|
Boys |
797 |
|
Girls |
882 |
|
Total |
53,308 |
Figures are not available to indicate the number of unregistered wage-earners at present unemployed in the Saorstát, and there is not sufficient material for an estimate.