Sir, - Mel Cousins's criticism (July 30th) of Garret FitzGerald's advocacy of the Labour Force Survey was timely and important. Dr FitzGerald echoes the viewpoint of the comfortable establishment which has so far received largely uncritical coverage. In this response, claims that "it is difficult to argue that someone who... chooses to describe his or her position as engaged in home duties is in fact really unemployed and seeking work . . ."
In fact, a significant proportion of people (mostly women) who describe themselves in this way are getting jobs. Indeed, it would appear that they are more likely to succeed in any job application than someone who describes himself or herself as unemployed for over a year.
There is nothing wrong with this, of course. It reflects the welcome increase in women's participation in the workplace, but it shows the limitations of surveys in predicting the number of people who want and will get jobs. In the European Union as a whole over 70 per cent of jobs are filled by people who were not previously described in Labour Force Surveys as "unemployed".
It also suggests that, contrary to Dr FitzGerald's central claim, simply asking the same set of questions in a changing labour market does not guarantee consistent results. As work has changed, the old idea of a single "economic status" has become profoundly, misleading.
It is simplistic to argue that the Labour Force Survey is "reliable" and that the Live Register is not. Both give us insights into a complex problem. Dr FitzGerald fails to grasp that since there is no "real" definition of unemployment there can be no single "real measurement of it. Are we concerned about the total number of people who would take up jobs if they became available? Or only those who are "looking for work"? Or people who would return to Ireland? Or those who have suffered so much they have given up?
Instead of playing tricks with figures, we should be concerned about the poverty and waste that comes from lack of paid employment. The UK Royal Statistical Society recently argued for a range of unemployment figures to be published, reflecting the different. social and economic dimension of the problem. This approach should be adopted in Ireland. - Yours, etc..
General Secretary.
Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed.
6 Gardiner Row,
Dublin 1.