Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy I will give her a full response later today when I get the relevant tables. She spoke about the breakdown between local authority areas, but the breakdown is done by region, which is a European standard for reporting such information.

The Deputy referred to job activation schemes. There were 89,704 people engaged in activation schemes run by the Department of Social Protection in March 2015. Those engaged in work-based activation programmes do not fall under the definition of being unemployed and do not appear in the employment estimates as reported by the Quarterly National Household Survey, QNHS, which is the official source of estimated unemployment in the State. The primary classification used by the QNHS is the ILO labour force classification, which states that those engaged in education-based activation programmes may or may not be classified as unemployed, depending on the labour force situation. The classification for unemployed persons includes those persons who in the week before the survey were without work, had taken specific steps in the previous four weeks to find work, and were available to take up work in the two weeks after the survey.

In the spring statement, the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, outlined that there was strong economic growth of 4.8% of GDP in 2014 and that this should continue to contribute to the growth of the labour market, with employment projected to increase by 40,000 this year. If the present trends continue, it is highly likely that the unemployment rate will move below 9% by the end of this year. In quarter 4 of 2014, there were 1,938,900 persons in employment, an increase of 1.5%, or 29,000, on quarter 4 of 2013. Employment is moving in the right direction. While Deputy Coppinger wants to put a negative spin on it, these are the figures. The CSO does not lie, and these are the statistics in its survey. These are actual net jobs that this Government is creating in a growing economy. We will continue to do that for as long as we are in government and, I have no doubt, we will do it in the next Government.

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