Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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159. To ask the Taoiseach the Central Statistic Office's estimate of the number of unemployed persons who are not on the live register. [20353/15]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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162. To ask the Taoiseach with regard to the latest Central Statistics Office quarterly national household survey for the first quarter of 2015, the number of those counted as unemployed under Central Statistics Office figures who are not counted on the live register. [20566/15]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 159 and 162 together.

The exact information requested by the Deputy is not available.

The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) is the official source of estimates of unemployment in the State and the latest estimated number of persons unemployed as of the first quarter of 2015 was 212,800.

The primary classification used for the QNHS results is the ILO (International Labour Office) labour force classification. The classification for unemployed persons includes those persons aged 15 years and over who, in the week before the survey, were without work and available for work within the next two weeks, and had taken specific steps, in the preceding four weeks, to find work. The QNHS does not capture a respondent's status as measured by the Live Register.

The Live Register is compiled from returns made for each local office to the Central Statistics Office by the Department of Social Protection. It comprises persons under 65 years of age in the following classes:

All Claimants for Jobseeker's Benefit (JB) excluding systematic short-time workers.

Applicants for Jobseeker's Allowance (JA) excluding smallholders/farm assists and other self-employed persons.

Other registrants including applicants for credited Social Welfare contributions but excluding those directly involved in an industrial dispute.

It should be noted that the Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment as per the ILO unemployment classification used by the QNHS. It includes part-time workers (those who work up to three days a week), seasonal and casual workers entitled to Jobseeker's Benefit or Allowance.