Madam, – I keep coming across unemployment percentage figures that do not seem to add up. I am wondering whether there is a deliberate attempt to tone down the current unemployment situation (if that were possible), or if it is due to differing numerical interpretation.
There appear to be two problems: first, relating to the total number of people residing in the State and their age distribution and, second, the currently published unemployment rate of 11.8 per cent, as of June 2009.
The latest CSO figures available (2006) indicate a population of circa 4,240,000, of which 865,000 are 0-14 years of age. This should leave a total population of 3,375,000 aged 15 and over. However according to CSO there are 3,500,000, which is an extra 125,000 propping up the total population and therefore marginally reducing the total rate of unemployment.
Assuming the population aged 15 and over is indeed 3,500,000 and subtracting all the various categories of people not seeking employment, we are left with a total working population of 2,340,000. If there are currently 402,000 on the live register then that represents a real rate of unemployment of 17.1 per cent and not 11.8 per cent. That figure would go up to 18.1 per cent if the total population aged 15 and over were 3,375,000 as it should be.
If these numbers are correct, then questions beckon as to how these figures are manipulated and, perhaps more importantly, for what and whose gain? – Yours, etc,