Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 81: To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide details on the eight sectors that reported increases in employment in the latest quarterly national household survey; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25735/11]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) is the official source of both employment and unemployment estimates for the State. The information the deputy referred to is presented in the table below. As with any sample survey, estimates from the QNHS are subject to sampling variability meaning that changes in the level of estimates of a relatively low order of magnitude may not be statistically significant. Another point to note is that, in the case of relatively large populations, such as the number of persons working in a sector of the economy, some level of movement is expected. To emphasise these points it can be noted that in recent years there has not been any quarter where decreases were recorded for all sectors despite the heavy loss in employment overall. Similarly during the period covering 2004 to 2007, a period when employment was growing rapidly, there was no quarter where increases were recorded for every sector. Therefore the CSO would caution against over-interpretation of short-term movements and rather suggest that a focus on the underlying trends be kept to the fore in any detailed analysis of the data. A clearer interpretation can be seen in the overall movement of the estimates of total employment. The quarterly fall of 3,200 in the seasonally adjusted employment series is the lowest reduction recorded since early 2008. To put that in context the highest quarterly reduction recorded in employment was a fall of 76,700 persons in the first quarter of 2009. We can similarly note that the rate of increase in unemployment has been slowing in recent quarters. With that noted, up to the second quarter of this year it remained the case that employment continued to fall and unemployment continued to rise. Future estimates from the QNHS, along with other estimates of economic activity, will be needed to allow us to draw conclusions about the ongoing state of the labour market.