Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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97. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection her views regarding the potential supply of labour statistics being a measure of the real extent of unemployment and underemployment. [40099/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Central Statistics Office (CSO) is responsible for defining, and publishing data series for, both ‘unemployment’ and the ‘potential labour supply’ in strict compliance with standards set down by the International Labour Organisation (LIO) and the EU. The definitions used by CSO are fully in line with International Labour Organization (ILO) standards and the national and European statistical legislative frameworks, and the data series are based on the results of the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS). The Government and the Department takes its lead on these matters from the CSO and accordingly uses the QNHS data as the official, and standard, measure of unemployment.

The differences between the two concepts are clearly outlined in the note attached to CSO’s Potential Labour Supply data series

(). The concept of ‘Potential Additional Labour Force’, mentioned in the CSO note, is further explored in a recent Eurostat ‘Statistics Explained’ article

().

Meanwhile, as the Deputy is aware, an updated Pathways to Work 2016-2020strategy is under development within my Department, and following extensive stakeholder consultation it is intended to bring this strategy to Government for approval as soon as possible. I expect that this strategy will reflect the hugely positive increases in job creation under this Government by focussing not just on helping people move from unemployment into work but also, more broadly, on offering those who are not currently part of the labour market the training and activation supports they need to achieve their employment goals.