Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance the plans, if any, he has to conduct and publish an analysis of the net employment effects of the measures taken in Budget 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42277/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Government framed Budget 2012 in such a way as to make it as job-friendly as possible, with various sectoral measures aimed at job creation. As I stated on Budget day, the primary purpose of the Budget was to support the creation and retention of jobs in the short-, medium- and long-term. It should be acknowledged that while restoring the public finances to a sound footing is crucial for Ireland’s future, consolidation can have a negative short-run impact on the economy. However, it is the framing of this consolidation which is important and I want to assure the Deputy that the Government is conscious of the need to minimise the impact of consolidation on the labour market.

I would like to point out that employment data are presented in net terms and information on gross flows into and out of employment is not available. This unfortunately makes it difficult to assess the number of jobs created by any policy initiative.

Having said that, I think it’s fair to say that there are tentative signs of stabilisation in labour market conditions, albeit at a very weak level. For instance, the latest data from the Live Register show an annual decrease of 8,106 (-1.9%) people on the Live Register in September.

So leaving aside the fact that quantifying the impact is difficult, I am confident that the measures targeted at job creation for the different sectors of the economy in Budget 2012, as well as the measures introduced by the Jobs Initiative and the Action Plan for Jobs, such as reducing the rate of VAT in the high value-added tourism sector, are playing an important role in both creating and sustaining employment.

Finally, I want to reiterate that addressing the labour market difficulties remains the Governments biggest challenge and, accordingly, Government is giving its highest priority to job protection and job creation.