Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 155: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of jobs lost to the economy in the 12 month period to date; the extent to which this corresponds to the four previous 12 month periods; the number of those jobs in the service and manufacturing sectors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45299/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey or QNHS and published by the Central Statistics Office. The numbers unemployed are not broken down on a sectoral basis. However, data on redundancies is available by sector.

Employment/unemployment fluctuations and redundancy data for the years 2004 to 2008 are set out in the following table. The data above reflect the fact that while there was some increase in unemployment in the years up to end 2007, the increase in employment significantly outweighed it. Also, though redundancies occurred each year, the number of new jobs being created resulted in job losses being absorbed in the buoyant labour market.

The data for 2008 reflects the reality that we are now in a period of economic downturn which is impacting negatively on our labour market.