IRELAND is to harmonise its Labour Force Survey with those conducted in other EU member states. From the middle of next year, a multi purpose household survey is to be conducted quarterly. This will incorporate information collected in the current annual survey with that collected in a number of other surveys.
Announcing the decision yesterday, the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Mr Jim Higgins, said: "The necessary development work is to be carried out by the Central Statistics Office as a matter of priority and combined with the work on the new quarterly survey and other EU statistical requirements which must be met."
The CSO is also to begin producing monthly figures for the Consumer Price Index, which are currently also produced quarterly.
There has been controversy over discrepancies between the Labour Force Survey and the Live Register, the other method of measuring unemployment, with over 80,000 more people registered as unemployed on the Live Register. It computes monthly unemployment rates.
The move to conduct the Labour Force Survey and Consumer Price Index more frequently and to harmonise with other EU states is part of the preparation for Economic and Monetary Union.