Oireachtas Briefing - Are People Looking for Work? - June 1998

Oireachtas Briefing dealing with the claim that unemployed people are not looking for work.

Summary

The claim is repeatedly made that "unemployed people are not looking for work". There is no evidence to support this:

• The new Household Survey produced by the CSO showed that 172,000 people were "actively seeking work" in Autumn 1997. In order to be classified as "actively seeking work" a person must have made at least one attempt to find work in the preceding four weeks. (CSO Household Survey, May 1998)
• These figures indicate that over 500,000 "job-seeking events" were undertaken by unemployed people in the three months of September-November 1997.
• The number of active job seekers in Autumn 1997 was higher than the number in April 1997. The difference can be partly explained by different methodology used and by seasonal factors, but the fall in the numbers "marginally attached to the labour force" (i.e. those who want work but are not actively seeking it) suggests an increase in job-seeking among the jobless resulting from increased opportunity.