Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 279: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of persons on the live register on 31 January 2008 and on the same date in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5543/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment. It includes part-time workers (those who work up to three days a week), seasonal and casual workers entitled to jobseeker's benefit or allowance. Unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey and, according to the CSO, the latest seasonally adjusted figure, for June-August 2007, is 97,700.

The Live Register figures are collated in respect of the last Friday in each month and published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The live register figure for January 2008 was 181,449. The details for the month of January in each of the past five years are set out in tabular format above.