Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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Question 68: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the recently published quarterly national household survey for Q2, 2010, including recent trends in employment, long-term unemployment, labour market participation and migration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34021/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The recent release of the Quarterly National Household Survey for the second quarter of this year provided further evidence of the stabilisation of the labour market. The year-on-year decline in employment in the second quarter of 2010, while unwelcome, was not unexpected. It was, it should be noted, the smallest annual decline in employment since Q3 2008. Last week's Quarterly National Household Survey release shows that there was a small quarter-on-quarter increase in employment in the second quarter of 2010. Although seasonal factors account for this upturn, nevertheless, the trend is encouraging.

This Government is particularly concerned at the growing rate of long-term unemployed. Upskilling and retraining this group, in particular, will continue to be a priority for this Government, while schemes, such as the PRSI job incentive scheme for employers, continue to focus on creating new jobs for people who have been unemployed for six months or more. The recent employment data highlight the considerable work that still needs to be done. This Government will continue to focus on improving our price and labour cost competitiveness which is a necessary condition for improving the labour market. Ireland's participation rate eased to 61.1 per cent in Q2 2010, in part, due to unemployed people returning to the education system. It should be noted that in Q1 2010, Ireland's participation rate was still significantly higher than the EU or euro area averages.

Separately, the CSO also recently released its Population and Migration Estimates for April 2010. Gross outward migration in the year to April 2010 was virtually unchanged from last year. The high level of net outward migration recorded is due to a sharp fall in inward migration. Additionally, it should be noted that the natural increase in the population is at its highest rate since at least 1987, which is an encouraging pointer to the overall sustainability of the Irish economy over the longer term.