WHAT IS THE BEST MEASURE OF EMPLOYMENT AND ... - TARA

sharing and so on These developments have increased the blurring of the
boundaries between work and unemployment An additional complication has
been the veritable explosion in recent years of a whole range of special State
employment and training schemes where participants themselves may have
genuine difficulties in deciding whether they are at work or unemployed
Using data from the Labour Force Surveys (LFS) from 1983 to 1986 this paper
examines the extent to which the traditional rigid distinction between work and
unemployment may no longer hold Different measures of labour force
aggregates and unemployment rates are presented and discussed, in this
context the concept of underemployment is also considered The detailed
analysis of the structure of unemployment identifies more clearly the
population groups which might be targeted for special labour market
measures
As an official Statistician I must hastily point out that the question asked in the
title of the paper is not meant to suggest that the currently published measures
of employment/unemployment are in any way unreal or invalid The purpose is
rather to alert users of the data to the fact that quite different measures can be
obtained depending on the approach or concepts used The time may well be
opportune to broaden our traditional approach to the measurement of
employment and unemployment in Ireland I hope that the discussion and
subsequent reaction to the paper will help us all to better understand the
relative advantages and disadvantages of the various alternative measures
which might be used to replace or complement the current statistics
Labour Force Estimates - Historical Approach
At the outset I think it is best to set the present measures of labour force
aggregates in Ireland in their historical context Labour force estimates
compiled up to the mid 1970's were based on the periodic stocktaking counts
given by the Census of Population The estimates for intercensal and
postcensal years were based on interpolations using the range of relevant
indicators available at the time In general, the Census-based labour force
estimates were derived from the respondents' statements of their "usual
principal occupation" in conjunction with a description of the "employment
status" and the name and nature of business of the employer
Being just one of many topics to be covered in a Census, the number of
questions devoted to establishing the labour force status is of necessity very
limited Furthermore, since the Census questionnaire is designed for
self-completion by the public the content and wording has to be relatively
simple and easily understood by all sections of the population Thus
complicated filtering procedures which are possible when trained interviewers
are used, are totally out of place in the Census However, it is also probably
fair to say that the labour market of even 10/15 years ago was considerably
less complex than in recent years and, therefore, more capable of
measurement by fairly simple questions
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