asked the Taoiseach if he will state for the most recent date for which figures are available (a) the total number and (b) the percentage of persons unemployed, including those who have left school, who would accept suitable work if offered to them.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unemployment Figures.
4.
The only current information regarding unemployment is that derived from the content of the Live Register at the Local Offices of the Department of Social Welfare. The total number of such registrants at 22 October, 1960, the latest date for which the information is available, was 40,592. The percentage of currently insured persons on the Live Register (excluding agriculture, fishing and private domestic service) was 5.4 per cent. at mid-October, 1960.
Most of the young people seeking work for the first time do not register at the Local Offices. The latest information regarding those who have left school and are "not yet at work" is that derived from the Census of Population, 1951. The total of such persons aged 14 years and over at the time of that Census was 16,226 males and 17,327 females.
Would it be reasonable to say that these 33,000 people, between 14 and 17 years of age, can be added to the total of 40,000 who are on the live register?
Obviously not. A percentage of these would not be actively seeking employment in the sense that an unemployed worker would be seeking it, and it is not possible to divide these figures into those who are engaged in household duties, those who are continuing their studies and those who are actively seeking work.