Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2014
176. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on the methodology used by his Department regarding counting new jobs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48974/14]
View answerThe CSO’s Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) is used for measuring employment trends in the economy overall and for tracking progress on the Government’s targets for job creation as set out in the Action Plan for Jobs and other national strategies. The QNHS covers all sectors of the economy on a quarterly basis and thereby provides us with timely indications of labour market and job creation developments. It provides data by region, economic sector and broad occupation groups, in addition to data by gender and different age cohorts. The data collected through the QNHS for Ireland is comparable with that for other countries and it also provides the official measure of employment and unemployment in the State on accepted International Labour Organisation (ILO) basis. As a large-scale, nationwide survey of households in Ireland, which began in September 1997, the QNHS allows us to assess labour market developments on a consistent basis for policy research and analysis purposes. Since the first Action Plan for Jobs was launched in February 2012 approximately 80,000 additional people are in work net of a reduction in the same period of 20,000 in the public sector.
In relation to monitoring employment trends in enterprise development agency-assisted firms, the Department of Jobs Enterprise and Innovation (DJEI) Annual Employment Survey provides a more granular level of data on employment. On the dissolution of Forfás in August 2014, DJEI took over responsibility to carry out the Annual Employment Survey of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland assisted enterprises. Results from the Údarás na Gaeltachta annual employment survey are also integrated into the final report published. The Survey is an annual census of employment in all agency-assisted companies that are active within manufacturing, internationally traded and financial services; there are currently approximately 8,500 live client companies surveyed. The survey takes place in October and November of each year. Companies are asked for their Permanent/ Full-time Jobs and Temporary/ Part-Time Jobs as at 31 October of that year.
DJEI aims to achieve as close to a census of all agency-assisted companies as is practicable during the Annual Employment Survey. Response rates of at least 80% are generally obtained, which is exceptionally high for a voluntary survey that is not mandated by a Statutory Instrument.
The survey has been carried out each year since 1972, providing a time-series of longitudinal data with over 30,000 client companies’ employment histories on file, many of which have been recently geocoded.
This survey provides accurate figures of full-time and part-time employment and is used for the purposes of research and analysis, both at the firm level and at regional, sectoral and agency levels. More specifically, employment data can be analysed by, inter alia , industrial (NACE) sector, region, county, responsible (i.e. parent) agency, ownership (Irish or foreign) and nationality.
The overall growth or decline in employment among agency assisted enterprises is reported on the basis of the net change in employment in a given year. The net change in employment is calculated as the difference between the gross job gains and the gross job losses, whereby gross job gains is the increase in employment in the survey year over and above the employment level in the previous year and gross job losses is the decrease in employment in the survey over and above the employment level in the previous year. First-Time Jobs are calculated as the jobs created in an enterprise over its peak employment level achieved in the previous five years.
