Vol. 444 No. 6
69 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the Dublin region unemployment rate compared to the national average; the measures, if any, he intends to introduce to rebalance this; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The collation of statistics on the rate of unemployment is a matter for the Central Statistics Office. According to information supplied to me, the Labour Force Survey shows that the unemployment rate in the Dublin region in April, 1992 was 16 per cent compared to the national average of 15.3 per cent. The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed expressed as a percentage of the total labour force and is based on standard criteria laid down by the International Labour Office for the classification of persons as employed, unemployed or outside of the labour force. 1992 is the most recent year for which information on this basis is currently available from the Labour Force Survey.
As the Deputy will see, on the basis of the available information, the difference in the rate of unemployment between Dublin and the rest of the country is not significant. I am sure the Deputy will appreciate that the causes of unemployment are many and varied and the Government is addressing the problem across a broad range of fronts. The primary goal of my Department in this area is to assist business to become more competitive, to grow and to thus generate increased employment, either directly or in related business. In addition to the efforts which are being made to improve the commercial and regulatory environment for business, the activities of the enterprise development agencies under my Department's aegis are also crucial to the achievement of this goal.
However, in the context of overall policy, the developmental activities of the agencies in respect of any particular region are the sole responsibility of those agencies and are matters in which I have no direct function.
