Vol. 422 No. 4
18 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Finance if, in regard to the reported comments of the Taoiseach at the launch of the Enterprise Trust in Dublin on 2 June, he will outline the basis for the belief that unemployment will stabilise in the second half of the year; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The Taoiseach did not say that unemployment itself would stabilise in the second half of the year. What he did say was that he hoped to see a "stabilisation in the upward trend"— that the pace of increase in the (underlying) Live Register, which quickened in the early months of this year, would slow. That is also my Department's view.
My Department forecast a modest increase in employment this year — a view supported by the pattern of relevant tax receipts to date. However, as long as international economic activity, particularly in the UK and the USA, remains muted employment growth here will not nearly offset increases in our labour force, and unemployment will rise.
