asked the Taoiseach if he will give particulars of unemployment and emigration in respect of each year from 1928 to date stating (a) the lowest unemployment and highest unemployment figures and (b) the estimated emigration.
Written Answers. - Unemployment and Emigration.
104.
While statistics of persons on the Live Register at the Local Employment Offices are available on a weekly basis for 1928 and subsequent years, many administrative changes affecting the coverage of these figures have been made throughout the period. In consequence Live Register statistics cannot be taken as providing a moderately satisfactory basis for comparing trends in unemployment over so extended a period. Even within any particular year, the operation of the Employment Period Orders, under which certain defined classes were debarred from the receipt of unemployment assistance at certain periods, meant that the lower Live Register figures in the summer than in the winter months were not fully indicative of a lower level of unemployment.
At the 1926 Census of Population and at certain subsequent Censuses, persons usually in gainful employment but unemployment at the time of the Census were asked to indicate this. The total numbers of persons who stated that they were out of work at the various Censuses were as follows:—
|
Census date |
Persons out of work aged 14 years or over |
|
18 April, 1926 |
78,054 |
|
26 April, 1936 |
95,089 |
|
12 May, 1946 |
62,663 |
|
8 April, 1951 |
44,820 |
|
9 April, 1961 |
55,569 |
|
17 April, 1966 |
52,217 |
It should be noted that the comparability of these figures also may, to some extent, be affected by differences in the wording of the relevant questions on the schedules used at the various Censuses.
Using the Census of Population results as bench-mark data and the statistics of the Live Register as indicators of current trends, estimates have been made annually, since 1951, of the number of persons out of work on the Census of Population basis. These figures, which refer to the month of April, are as follows:—
|
Date |
Number out of work (Thousand) |
|
|
April, |
1951 |
44.8 |
|
,, |
1952 |
59 |
|
,, |
1953 |
65 |
|
,, |
1954 |
65 |
|
,, |
1955 |
62 |
|
,, |
1956 |
63 |
|
,, |
1957 |
78 |
|
,, |
1958 |
73 |
|
,, |
1959 |
69 |
|
,, |
1960 |
63 |
|
,, |
1961 |
55.6 |
|
,, |
1962 |
54 |
|
,, |
1963 |
56 |
|
,, |
1964 |
53 |
|
,, |
1965 |
51 |
|
,, |
1966 |
52.2 |
|
,, |
1967 |
57 |
As has been explained in many Parliamentary Questions, no figures are available for emigration from the State for individual years. The only reliable information on this subject is that derived from Census of Population results, taken in conjunction with registration of births and deaths. The figures so derived refer to net emigration only, that is the excess in the number of emigrants over that of immigrants. In addition these figures relate only to the average annual net emigration over inter-censal periods. These figures for inter-censal periods since 1926 were as follows:—
|
Inter-censal period |
Average annual net emigration |
|
1926-1936 |
16,675 |
|
1936-1946 |
18,712 |
|
1946-1951 |
24,384 |
|
1951-1956 |
39,353 |
|
1956-1961 |
42,400 |
|
1961-1966 |
16,121 |