District-level analysis of unemployment figures
Kelly asked whether officials had considered tracking employment changes by district to assess the accuracy of unemployment statistics. Moore said he would find out; Kelly argued that such a study was needed to resolve claims that the register either understated or overstated unemployment.
With regard generally to the compiling of unemployment statistics, will the Minister of State tell the House whether the Statistics Office has ever considered analysing the figures in a given district or in a selection of districts in order to track every individual to see who has lost a job and why, who has got a job and where and the reasons why a person has not been successful in getting employment? Until that is done we will never be sure about these figures.
Comment on this
Will the Minister of State not agree that when the National Coalition were in office it was always alleged that the register understated unemployment but now we are getting the suggestion from the Fianna Fáil benches that the figures overstate unemployment? If we are to believe some Ministers, we have full employment now. Until a study is done, district by district, we will never know the truth.