Vol. 491 No. 4
7 Mr. Broughan asked the Taoiseach when the results of the most recent labour force survey will be issued; the reason for the delay in publishing these results; the timetable for the publication of the future bulletins of the survey; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12109/98]
The first results from the quarterly national household survey were issued at noon yesterday by the Central Statistics Office. These results summarise the labour force situation in the three months period September to November 1997. Copies of the CSO statistical release have now been laid before the House.
The quarterly national household survey, which was launched last September, is a continuous survey covering 3,000 households per week throughout the year and has been designed to replace the annual labour force survey. A full report on the April 1997 labour force survey was published in October last year.
While the production of the first results from the quarterly national household survey is approximately one month behind target, it nevertheless compares favourably with the timeliness of the labour force survey results. This is particularly the case when account is taken of the scale of the task in getting the new surveys successfully under way over a relatively short period.
The next quarterly national household survey report, which will cover the next two quarters, is planned for October this year. The Central Statistics Office expects to be in a position early next year to issue quarterly reports within three months of the end of the reference quarter.
Has the attention of the Minister of State been drawn to comments published in today's newspapers by the head of the CSO about the teething troubles of this whole exercise and the one month delay in publishing statistics? The value of statistics is precisely that they are up-to-date. As Chief Whip and as Minister of State in the Taoiseach's Department with responsibility for the CSO does he intend to meet the head of the CSO to discuss the problems which the Chief Executive of the CSO has placed on record? Can he give an assurance there will not be a month's delay in the publication of further quarterly reports?
I am aware of what has been said. I will meet the senior officials in the CSO. I had a meeting yesterday with quite senior officials in the CSO and they pointed out there are teething troubles. As the Deputy is aware, there was an annual labour survey on which both the previous Government and this Government have worked. We have now changed from an annual labour force survey to a rolling survey whereby 3,000 houses per week are visited by the CSO. Instead of annual figures we now have quarterly figures. On average 39,000 houses are visited every quarter. The figures produced are those at the mid-point of the quarter. These figures are produced from October. While there are teething troubles they are being overcome. I congratulate the staff of the Central Statistics Office for their enthusiasm for the quarterly national household survey. It will provide much valuable information, some of which is reported on in today's newspapers. It shows increases in the labour force, increased participation by women in the labour force, a reduction in the number of students and so on. Until now this information was available only once a year. It will be very valuable and I will meet the CSO. They have assured me that as the quarters go on, they get the information out in a more timely fashion.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Is it his intention in attending Cabinet to bring to the attention of the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs with responsibility, among other things, for the live register the discrepancy between two sets of figures? Today's figures show that 171,000 people are unemployed yet the live register figures, which are not a measure of unemployment but of the number of people signing on for unemployment benefit or assistance, show a figure of approximately 230,000. In other words, there is a gap of 60,000 people in absolute terms. Is it the intention of the Minister of State to bring this statistical gap to the attention of the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs?
I will discuss the matter again with the Minister but, like previous Ministers for Social Welfare, including Deputy Woods, he is well aware that there is a problem. It has been discussed in the House many times. There is a statistical gap between those who draw benefit and those who describe themselves as being available for work when asked the question in a survey. Interestingly, that gap has been closed by these recent quarterly figures and I am told that as the quarters roll on, we should be in a position to bring those two figures——
It is not a gap between those who are available for work but between those who are employed and those who are drawing unemployment benefit or assistance.
It has to do with how people describe their situation when asked to do so in a survey. For example, a feature of the quarterly survey over the annual survey has been that when people were pressed and visited more regularly, they began to take the view that they might now be available for work. An interesting aspect is the number of people who now describe themselves as being available for part-time work, which has increased dramatically, whereas in annual surveys they did not volunteer that information. We are getting more accurate information as a result of these quarterly figures and the gap between the live register figures and the quarterly survey has begun to close, but more work will have to be done to reconcile the figures.
Will the Minister accept that because the labour force survey and the criteria for unemployment benefit of the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs are based on different definitions we will never close the gap because we are measuring two different approaches to unemployment figures?
The main point is that we understand the questions we ask. In the survey we ask people to describe whether they are in or out of the labour force. It is a different set of figures but we should be able to reconcile them.
I draw the Minister's attention to the fact that the Spanish labour force survey shows one million more people unemployed than are actually on the unemployment register because the requirement to qualify for unemployment assistance and benefit in Spain is completely different from the definition of unemployment in the labour force survey.
