Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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49. To ask the Taoiseach if the CSO will explore ways of publishing regular data pertaining to the numbers of persons at work per county as distinct from per region, as the current system makes it difficult to measure progress or otherwise in rural counties such as Kerry, which is categorised with Cork city and county and the live register figures do not take account of emigration. [26708/16]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) is the official source of employment estimates in the state and is conducted in line with relevant European regulations for the conduct of labour force surveys.

The labour market estimates produced by the QNHS are designed to meet strict quality criteria set down by Eurostat, which specify the level of statistical accuracy that these estimates must achieve at national level. The CSO also produces regional labour market estimates from the QNHS (NUTS 3 regions) which is beyond the level of regional detail (NUTS 2 regions) required by Eurostat. It is not possible to produce robust county level estimates from the current QNHS data.

The CSO would have to increase the total number of households interviewed nationally, with a corresponding increase in field staff numbers and costs, in order to produce regular county level estimates to the same standard as the regional estimates currently available from the QNHS.

Currently the CSO employs 100 interviewers who sample 2,000 households per week to generate quarterly national and regional labour market estimates, at a cost of approximately €4m per annum. Achieving representative samples at county level on which to base labour market estimates would require a substantial increase in the number of households interviewed and the number of field interviewers required to interview them.

The main source of detailed county and small area level information is the Census of Population. The Census asks respondents to declare their ‘Principal Economic Status (PES)’, which classifies their usual situation with regard to employment, and includes the categories of ‘employed’ and ‘unemployed’, amongst others. A detailed analysis of the change in 'PES' between 2011 and 2016 will be available at county level and below when the 2016 Census results are published in 2017.