asked the Minister for Finance if he will make a statement in relatin to the preliminary estimates of the 1989 labour force, recently published.
Written Answers. - Estimates of 1989 Labour Force.
57.
I have already made a statement on the recently published preliminary estimates of the mid-April 1989 labour force in a reply to a parliamentary question. I refer the Deputy to the second and subsequent paragraphs of a written reply to Deputy Jim Mitchell on 8 November last (Official Report, columns 2056 and 2057).
In that reply I stated that the labour force survey results — which give a snapshot of employment at mid-April— pointed to a very buoyant performance from private sector employment over the two years to last April, when allowance is made for a fall in public sector employment of 20,000 over the same period, and that the evidence since April suggested that employment was continuing to improve. I also added that it was clear that the Government's policies on employment and job creation were working and that it was the Government's intention to continue to pursue these successful policies.