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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 4 Jul 2001

Vol. 540 No. 2

Written Answers. - Live Register.

Dick Spring

Question:

80 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he is concerned that the May and April live register figures show seasonally adjusted increases of 2,100 people and 1,700 people respectively; and his views on whether these figures are developing into a worrying trend. [20110/01]

The live register is published each month by the Central Statistics Office on the basis of returns made by local offices of my Department.

It is important to note that the live register is not designed to measure unemployment. This is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey. The live register is simply an administrative record of persons in receipt of or claiming unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance or credited contributions in respect of unemploy ment. It includes, for example, part-time workers and seasonal and casual workers who are receiving unemployment payments.
The CSO also publishes as part of the live register a seasonally adjusted figure each month. The adjusted figure is based on factors determined by the CSO. These factors are updated twice a year in January and July, based on the underlying trends in the previous two years.
The last adjustment made to these factors took place in January 2001, based on the trends in 1999 and 2000. The next adjustment will be made in July 2001, based on the trends from June 1999 to June 2001.
Since March 2001, the seasonally adjusted figure has increased by 300 in March, 1,700 in April, and 2,100 in May. The increases since March reflect in part the direct impact of foot and mouth related cases as well as related indirect impacts in the tourism and leisure sectors.
However, comparing month on month in 2000 and 2001, the yearly drop in the seasonally adjusted figures reads as follows:
Seasonally Adjusted Live Register

2000

2001

+/-

March

165,300

137,800

27,500

April

164,700

139,500

25,200

May

160,800

141,600

19,200

Since June 1997, the seasonally adjusted figure has dropped by 113,600 from 255,200 to 141,600 or by 45%.
While the seasonally adjusted figure has shown an increase in the last three months, overall the live register figures continue to decline. There has been a fall of almost 8,000 in the live register figure since the start of the current year. This is mainly due to the current buoyant economy and better job opportunities, the various employment support services, including the employment action plan and the control measures in place in my Department.
My Department, in conjunction with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment as well as other Departments and agencies, is committed to ensuring that all those on the live register are facilitated to return quickly to employment, further training or education and we will continue to promote a variety of responses, including fiscal, training and activation to assist them.
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