Ms Bríd O'Brien:

To be classified as unemployed officially, one has to answer yes to two questions: that one has actively been seeking work in the previous four weeks and is available to take up work in the coming two weeks.

Many people who are long-term unemployed will answer "No" to the first one because they have lost heart and maybe have not been getting responses. Someone else who is trying to get back into the labour force and who is perhaps coming from a position of care is likely to answer "no" to the second question because it may take them longer than two weeks to organise whatever it is they need to organise. Likewise, someone who has a transport issue may not be able to take up work in the next two weeks. That is why we find the potential supply of labour figure very useful because it captures people who answer "yes" to those two questions, people who answer "no" to one or other of them, and people who are working part-time but would like to be working more hours. It captures the extent of the challenge that faces us in terms of all the people who would seek work if everything was working out for them.