Labour market estimates are derived from data collected through the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) which forms part of the EU wide (Community) Labour Force Survey. The primary classification used for the labour market status of an individual is the internationally agreed International Labour Office (ILO) labour force classification. The ILO classification distinguishes the following main subgroups:
In Employment: Persons who worked in the week before the survey for one hour or more for payment or profit, including work on the family farm or business and all persons who had a job but were not at work because of illness, holidays etc. in the week.
Unemployed: Persons who, in the week before the survey, were without work and available for work within the next two weeks, and had taken specific steps, in the preceding four weeks, to find work. The specific definition to be applied by all EU member states for the measurement of the unemployed is detailed in Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1897/2000.
Inactive Population (not in labour force): All other persons.
An individual's status from an unemployment perspective is not determined by their activity within the schemes or courses provided by the various Government Departments or other public bodies but rather by their situation vis-à-vis the three criteria outlined in the definition of the unemployed outlined above. For example persons signing on for credits will only be considered as unemployed on an ILO basis if they satisfy the three criteria outlined above.
The Live Register which includes all claimants for jobseekers benefit (excluding systematic short-time workers), jobseekers assistance (excluding smallholders/farm assists and other self-employed persons) and other registrants including applicants for credited Social Welfare contributions but excluding those directly involved in an industrial dispute, treats the three groups outlined in the question as follows:
Those who are signing on for credits would be included in the Live Register figures;
Those on FÁS courses who retain their jobseekers payment are not included in the Live Register figures;
Those who no longer sign on having exhausted all of their benefits (rather than credits) and who are not eligible for jobseekers allowance would sign-on for credits and be included in the Live Register figures.
It should be noted that the Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment.