Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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33. To ask the Taoiseach if in future, earnings and labour cost reports will continue to use the baseline year 2008 for table No. 1, and throughout the report in view of the fact that for the foreseeable future, progress or otherwise should be measured against the peak year of 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51787/13]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Quarterly information on earnings and labour costs is published in the Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly release. The data is based on the Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs (EHECS) survey which has been undertaken since quarter 1 2008. All earnings and labour costs data from this survey since quarter 1 2008 is available on the CSO website.

The quarterly release is produced and analysis focuses on the latest quarterly and annual trends, as the data is primarily intended as a short-term economic indicator, while references are made to longer term trends where applicable. However the practicality of publishing tables for the entire period that the series covers is not feasible, taking into account issues of space and visual presentation. At present the release covers a four-year rolling period. Additional data and time periods are available to users of the earnings statistics through the statbank tables on the CSO website where further analysis is possible from 2008 if required.