asked the Taoiseach what is the total number of persons who have left agriculture, forestry and fishing in the years 1957, 1958 and 1959 until the most recent date for which figures are available.
5.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing: Employment Statistics.
4.
asked the Taoiseach what was the net increase or decrease in the number of persons in employment in (a) non-agricultural industry, (b) agriculture, (c) forestry and (d) fishing in each of the years 1957, 1958 and 1959 up to the most recent date for which figures are available, and the net total increase or decrease in each year.
I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 4 and 5 together. Particulars of the total number of persons who have left agriculture, forestry and fishing are not available. Estimates are, however, available of the number of persons at work in this sector of economic activity. The estimates for 1957, 1958 and 1959, which relate to early April of each year, show a net decrease of 12,000, 4,000 and 9,000 respectively below the level of the preceding year. These figures are to be compared with an average rate of decline of 10,000 during the previous five-year period. Separate estimates for agriculture, forestry and fishing are not available.
The corresponding estimates of the number of persons at work in all non-agricultural economic activity in 1957 and 1958 were 15,000 and 11,000 respectively below the level of the preceding year, while the 1959 figure was the same as that for 1958.
Comparable figures for 1960 are not yet available for either the agricultural or the non-agricultural sectors but more recent data are available for some sections of the latter. The most recent figures for employment in transportable goods industries, relating to June, 1960, show an increase of over 3,100 above the 1959 level. The number of persons employed by railway companies in March, 1960, was 1,100 lower than in March, 1959.
In view of the fact that the rate at which persons left agricultural employment between 1957-58 has nearly doubled, is it not a fact that the drift from the land which was relatively moderate has now become wholesale evacuation? Secondly, in view of the fact that the net total number of new jobs needed at the moment is anything between 40,000 and 60,000, is it not clear that the present apparent position of prosperity is a purely book-keeping prosperity made by better administrative methods and better use of machinery at the expense of men and the population?
The Deputy is making a speech.
Emigration from Ireland is continuing unchecked——
I think the Deputy must have misheard the figures given by the Parliamentary Secretary. The decline in non-industrial activities in recent years has been less than the previous five-year average.
Because there is nobody left.
Would the Taoiseach give again—I am not sure whether I heard it correctly—the decrease in the number of workers in transport in March, 1960, compared with 1959.
One thousand, one hundred, that is, employed by C.I.E.
He was not aware of that last week?
What the Deputy said last week was that 1,100 had been dismissed by C.I.E. That is what was not correct.
But the figure was 1,100 less?
Yes.