Vol. 433 No. 3
39 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment whether the Dublin region has the highest number of unemployed on a proportional basis in comparison to any other region in the country; his views on whether decentralisation is helping the situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Live Register statistics do not permit a comparison to be drawn between the rate of unemployment in any particular region relative to another.
However it is possible, using data from the annual Labour Force Survey, to make such a comparison. The most recent survey report relates to 1991, and this indicates that the Dublin Region, with an unemployment rate of 17.1 per cent, had the second highest rate in the country at that time. The highest rate, 19.7 per cent, was in the North-West and Donegal, while the national figure was 15.6 per cent.
It is difficult to estimate what effect, if any, the Government's decentralisation programme is having on the relative incidence of unemployment in Dublin relative to the regions. The Government believes that the more widespread location of public service employment is a desirable long term objective in itself and that it contributes to reducing regional imbalances and pressure on the Dublin region.
