Pádraic McCormack
Question:36 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if he will give details of the most valid measure of the extent of the unemployment problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Unemployment Level.
There are two methods of determining the level of unemployment in this country — the Live Register and the Labour Force Survey. The Labour Force Survey is generally regarded as the more accurate picture of employment and unemployment but on cost grounds it is only carried out once a year at the moment. It usually represents unemployment levels at a few percentage points below the Live Register figure. For example, the most recent Labour Force Survey of April, 1992 indicated that unemployment amounted to 16.7 per cent of the workforce, whereas the Live Register figures were then at 20.8 per cent: that is over 4 per cent higher.
The Live Register is a count of the numbers of people signing on for payments. The Labour Force Survey is, on the other hand, an internationally agreed, standard statistical method of establishing the numbers at work and not at work according to the declared occupations of people.