asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the number of jobs which were lost in industry in the period from 1980 to 1985.
Ceisteanna—Questions Oral Answers. - Industrial Job Losses.
1.
Limerick East): Based on figures published by the Central Statistics Office, employment in manufacturing industries declined as follows during the period 1980 to 1985: 1980, 6,200; 1981, 2,700; 1982, 11,500; 1983, 10,900; 1984, 6,100; 1985, 5,700. The figure for 1985 is still provisional. Gross job loss figures are not published by the CSO.
Will the Minister indicate what job losses are likely to occur during the current year?
(Limerick East): There are always job losses in sectors whether it is a good year for employment or a bad year. The figure for 1985 is still provisional and I cannot help the Deputy with regard to the 1986 figure at this stage.
Will the Minister state if the figures quoted are net figures or are they gross losses? Have the figures taken into account the number of jobs created?
(Limerick East): They are the net figures.
Will the Minister indicate what are the gross figures?
(Limerick East): As I said in my reply, gross job loss figures are not published by the CSO.
Is the Minister aware that unemployment in manufacturing industry is now approximately 21 per cent compared with about 17 per cent unemployment in the economy generally? Is he aware of that difference?
That appears to be a separate question.
(Limerick East): It also seems to be based on a false premise.
There is no false premise about the unemployment rate in manufacturing industry.
(Limerick East): How can one categorise unemployed people if they are willing to take jobs in the services sector, in the manufacturing sector or in the public service sector? How can one put the number in percentage figures if people are willing to work wherever they can obtain it?
Those who have been displaced from manufacturing industry are workers in the manufacturing sector.
(Limerick East): Displacement levels are different from unemployment figures.
Will the Minister confirm to the House that approximately 40,000 jobs have been lost in Irish manufacturing industry since 1980?
(Limerick East): Of course there have been major job losses since 1980 in Irish manufacturing industry due principally to the coincidence of entering a period of the worst recession in a generation at a time when we had four years of disastrous Fianna Fáil policies to which the Deputy made a major contribution in 1977.
What would the Government do without 1977?
I asked a supplementary question that has not been answered. Will the Minister confirm to the House that since 1980 job losses in Irish manufacturing industry have been of the order of 40,000? He has not responded to that question.
(Limerick East): I do not know if the Deputy was in the House when we started Question Time. I read out the figures in respect of the period 1980 to 1985. If he adds them up he will get the total.
I will allow a question to Deputy Lyons and a question to Deputy McCartin. After that we will move to Question No. 2.
Arising from the Minister's argumentative and political reply, may I ask him a political question——
The Deputy may not.
In view of the fact that this and other Coalition Governments have been in office for more than eight years out of the past 13 years, is he satisfied with the record 40,000 job losses in manufacturing industry?
That is a separate question.
With respect, I suggest my question is in accordance with the reply given by the Minister. I will not allow it to go unchallenged.
(Limerick East): I am not making a political reply.
We are still on Question No. 1. I ask the House not to continue in this fashion in the atmosphere that has developed.
Blaming 1977 for unemployment in 1986 is a bit much.
(Limerick East): I am making the economic argument that our manufacturing industry would have been better able——
I should have dealt with this as a statistical question and I should not have allowed any supplementary questions. I will allow one question to Deputy McCartin and then I am moving to Question No. 2.
Will the Minister agree that the percentage of the work-force employed in manufacturing industry has been getting smaller in every developed economy in the world and that the trend is less pronounced here than in most of the other successful economies?
(Limerick East): What the Deputy has said is true but there is another trend, namely, that jobs previously classified as being in manufacturing industry are now classified as jobs in the services industry. A pattern has developed where manufacturing companies are sub-contracting jobs as, for instance, catering. Previously such jobs were classified as being in the manufactuaring sector but now they are in the category of the services industry. Therefore, when one sees a decrease worldwide in manufacturing industry and an increase in the serivces industry worldwide the change is not as great as the figures suggest.
I should like to ask a brief and final supplementary question. It is very important.
I am sorry but I am moving to Question No. 2. I was more than fair on this question and I did not get much co-operation from either side.