Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 31 Mar 1993

Vol. 428 No. 6

Written Answers. - Live Register.

Helen Keogh

Question:

62 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the number of unemployed people; if he will give details on a county by county basis of the percentage of the available workforce these represent in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. Quinn)

The total number signing on the live register at the end of February was 299,500.

I propose to submit details of the live register on a county by county basis which are compiled by the Central Statistics Office on a monthly basis. The figures are published by them. The labour force survey is not available on this basis.

The general position is that unemployment is fairly evenly distributed but in so far as there are black spots or areas with particular problems, provision is being made to tackle those problems by initiatives, such as the local area partnerships scheme.

As the Deputy will know, employment and unemployment are the number one priority for the Government and strategies to increase the number at work in the medium and in the longer term will be announced shortly, in the context of implementing a wide range of reforms to improve competitiveness, to improve the prospects for doing more business and to increase the numbers at work. Training and other schemes to integrate the unemployed into the labour force will be a major element of the approach to getting more people at work.