New £3m CSO national survey underlines economic boom

Further evidence of a booming economy was revealed yesterday as results from the first Quarterly National Household Survey, compiled under a new classification system to allow for international comparisons, were released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Mr Gerry O'Hanlon, a CSO director, said that, after factoring out the greater detail compiled from more "direct" questions, there had been a rise in the labour force - the number of people in work and those unemployed but seeking work - of between 30,000 and 40,000 between June and November, 1997. "The dynamics and flows are very real and very substantial," he said.

A slight increase in the unemployment rate, from 10.3 per cent to 10.4 per cent, due to seasonal factors, was recorded, with over half of the unemployment classified as long-term unemployed. "The long-term unemployment rate fell slightly from 5.6 per cent to 5.5 per cent over the middle of 1997," the CSO stated. Female participation rates, in particular, had increased, from 42 per cent to 45.9 per cent between April and the September-November quarter which this survey measures. Married women aged between 25 and 54 represent a strong labour growth area; a consequent decline in people working in the home was noted.

The general 15-19 age group has also seen an increase, reflecting seasonal student labour participation.

The new International Labour Organisation (ILO) standard uses more refined questions, revealing greater detail on labour force participation, measuring the effect of seasonal factors and revealing a truer picture of the part-time working sector. "Most notably, the survey itself has involved changes in how we undertake the interviewing, using laptop computers in the quarterly surveys," Mr O'Hanlon said.

The new system costs £3 million a year to undertake, three times the cost of the former annual Labour Force Survey carried out on 18-page questionnaires, and involved a sample of 33,500 households with over 72,000 people aged over 15. On an ongoing basis, 80 per cent of respondents will be re-surveyed in successive quarters. To calculate those in employment, people who were in work "for payment or profit" for at least one hour in the week before the enumerator calls are included.

"Refinements in the questions on the involvement in the labour force resulted in at least a further 50,000 being recorded as part of the labour force," the CSO stated.

To be categorised as unemployed, "persons who, in the week before the survey, were without work and available for work and had taken specific steps, in the preceding four weeks, to find work" are counted.

The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) stated yesterday that the more accurate unemployment picture could be used productively in pursuing local employment strategies. "It will also put an end to the insulting insinuations from some employers about people not prepared to work," the INOU said.