What is the best measure of employment and unemployment in Ireland?

Abstract

The paper develops a framework to be applied in the Labour Force Surveys for the measurement of labour force aggregates according to international recommendations. While applying the international recommendations undoubtedly simplifies the task of making comparisons between the labour market situation in different countries, the proposed framework also appears to have presentational and analytical advantages over the approach used hitherto in Ireland. While the overall levels of employment and unemployment are broadly similar under both approaches, it will be shown that unemployment rates for married females may in reality be two and a half times the levels which can be calculated from the Labour Force Survey reports at present while male unemployment rates may be two to three percentage points lower.