Vol. 181 No. 6
asked the Taoiseach if the definition "permanent farm employee" appearing on page 22 of Economic Statistics, 1960 means a farm employee who has been employed for twelve months prior to the agricultural enumeration taken on 1st June, or is likely to be employed for twelve months; and if he will state the instructions given to enumerators in connection with the compilation of the employment statistics, indicating how permanent and temporary farm employees are classified.
20.
asked the Taoiseach if he will revise the method of compiling the farm employment statistics on the 1st June, 1960 so that the definition "permanent farm employee" shall include only employees who have been employed in agriculture for at least twelve months, or are likely to be employed in agriculture for twelve months; and also if he will arrange to ascertain the turnover of hired labour on farms between June, 1959 and June, 1960 and the number of farm employees on 1st June, 1960 who have been continuously employed in agriculture since June, 1959.
I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to take questions 19 and 20 together.
The source of the particulars of males engaged in farm work, for both employees and others, shown on page 22 of the 1960 issue of Economic Statistics, was indicated in my reply of 28 April, 1960. Instructions are not issued to enumerators concerning the classification of employees into “permanent” and “temporary”.
The annual series of figures for males engaged in farm work are used to provide an indication of the current trend in the level of employment in agriculture. It is considered undesirable to make any alteration in the basis of compilation which would affect the continuity of the series. Consequently, it is not proposed to include in the 1960 Agricultural Enumeration an additional question on the number of farm employees who have been continuously employed in agriculture since June, 1959.
The determination of reliable and meaningful data for the turnover of hired labour on farms would necessitate a special detailed inquiry which it is not proposed to inaugurate.
