asked the Minister for Labour if he is making arrangements to forecast manpower requirements by region and by trade; and, if not, why.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Manpower Requirements.
6.
For technical reasons, mainly the lack of suitable data and satisfactory techniques, the preparation of reliable forecasts of manpower requirements by occupation on a regional basis is not yet feasible.
Will the Minister state if he has any proposals in this regard?
The main difficulty in this area is the lack of statistics on which to work. There has not been a great tradition of sufficiently specific statistics with regard to occupation and this is the main difficulty.
Have not the IDA some statistics in this regard?
There is no shortage of crude statistics but it will be a long-term task to get the necessary detailed statistics together in order to make forecasting a realistic proposition.