John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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1265. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the rate of jobless households here; the way in which this compares to the EU average; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25582/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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According to the Eurostat Labour Force Survey, in 2017 there were 171.22 million households in the EU (excluding households composed solely of students or solely of inactive people aged 65 and over). Of these, some 28.18 million households (16.5% of the total) were jobless - that is, no adult in the household was working.

For Ireland, the total number of relevant households was 1,489,600, and of these some 234,100 (15.7% of the total) were jobless.

Although the figure for Ireland has fallen from a high of 23% in 2012 (when it was significantly above the EU average of 19%) as a result of the economic recovery, government remains concerned about aspects of household joblessness that go beyond the standard measures of unemployment and receipt of jobseekers’ payments. Relevant groups, not normally considered to be unemployed, include economically inactive lone parents, people with disabilities, and the adult dependants of unemployed people, all of whom might benefit from closer attachment to employment and the labour market. A range of policy reforms has been taken affecting these groups, and further reforms are being considered in consultation with representative bodies for those involved. These policy developments were set out in an Action Plan for Jobless Households, which was published by my department in September 2017.