Written answers

Tuesday, 14 June 2022

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Departmental Data

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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189. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the level of non-recorded overtime by main employment sectors for each of the years 2012 to 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30802/22]

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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190. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the level of bogus self-employment by main employment sectors for each of the years 2012 to 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30803/22]

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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191. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the level of abusive sub-contracting by main employment sectors for each of the years 2012 to 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30805/22]

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 189, 190 and 191 together.

Specific data sets pertaining to levels of ‘non-recorded overtime’, ‘bogus self-employment’ or ‘abusive sub-contracting’ are not held within my Department as outlined by the Deputy.

However, I note and welcome the recently announced provisional political agreement on the directive on adequate minimum wages in the EU.

The agreed text introduces the obligation for EU countries to set up an enforcement system, including monitoring and controls to ensure compliance and address abusive sub-contracting, bogus self-employment, non-recorded overtime or increased work intensity. It also acknowledges that close cooperation with the social partners is needed to address these critical challenges.

Ireland has supported the principles of this proposal since it was first published and actively contributed to discussions and negotiations on the text.

In addition to this, the Tánaiste agreed to convene a consultative working group on the Determination of Employment Status, which I Chair.

This group consists of representatives from ICTU, Ibec, the Construction Federation of Ireland and ISME, as well as officials from my Department; the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Protection.

The purpose of the working group is to examine issues around employment status, consider the scale of misclassification, and to discuss the potential to improve systems by which correct employment status is determined.

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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192. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the level of increased work intensity by main employment sectors for each of the years 2012 to 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30806/22]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not collect data on work intensity. The most recent available data is from Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) provides a wide-ranging picture of the everyday reality of men and women at work across countries, occupations, sectors and age groups. The Survey asks a number of questions related to work intensity and the data is published on the Eurostat website. Data is collected for this survey every 5 years and is currently available for 2005, 2010 and 2015. The 2020/2021 survey results are expected this year.

Table 1 shows the percentage of workers that feel they are able to choose their methods of work or to influence their pace of work in Ireland and on average across the EU28 countries. For Ireland this percentage has dropped from 82.1% in 2005 to 78.7% in 2015 and is close to the EU28 average of 80.2%.

Table 1: Ability to choose method of work and influence pace of work

- 2005 2010 2015
European Union - 28 countries 78.1 78.2 80.2
Ireland 82.1 73.2 78.7

Source: Eurostat

Table 2 shows the percentage of employees having to work at very high speed or to tight deadlines for Ireland and on average for EU28 countries. For Ireland, this percentage has increased from 40% in 2005 to 48.1% in 2015 and Ireland is slightly above the EU 28 average on this indicator.

Table 2: Having to work at very high speed or to tight deadlines

- 2005 2010 2015
European Union - 28 countries 46.9 44.2 44.9
Ireland 40.0 52.7 48.1

Source: Eurostat

A breakdown of these results by economic sector is not available at this time.

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