Jim Mitchell
Ceist:1 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Taoiseach the number of part-time workers (a) working less than 18 hours per week and (b) working between 18 and 30 hours per week; and the way in which the numbers are calculated.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Part-Time Workers.
Information of the type requested by the Deputy comes from the labour force survey. The labour force survey is a large sample household survey taken on an annual basis in April-May each year by the Central Statistics Office. It covers about 45,000 private households with 150,000 persons.
Respondents are asked to indicate their employment situation in the week preceding the interview. Those who say that they worked for at least one hour for payment or profit, including work on the family farm or business, are asked to indicate whether the job was full-time or part-time and to specify the number of hours usually worked per week.
It is estimated that there were 82,200 persons with such part-time jobs in April-May 1989, the latest period for which figures are available. An estimated 30,500 of these usually worked less than 18 hours per week; 34,600 worked 18 but less than 30 hours per week and 7,400 worked at least 30 hours per week.
I would remind the Minister, in the light of the jobs already enumerated in the census, of the need to ensure the protection of part-time workers and an improvement of their conditions. Will the Minister agree the hidden number of part-time jobs would contribute greatly to the revenue? Is there legislation to protect those workers?
The promised legislation dealing with part-time workers will be in the House very shortly. Indeed, it is expected to be published before the Christmas recess. The figures I have given to the House are based on the labour force survey of 1989. The labour force survey figures of April-May 1990 will be available during next year. The figures published in October last were taken from that survey but details relating to the number of part-time workers were not available at that stage. The information will be available next year.