Back to Top

Central Statistics Office

 Skip navigation

Show Menu  
PDF - Summary (KB)
PDF - Full (KB)
Extra information
Methodology Previous Releases
International comparison:
Eurostat
See also:
YouTube Video
For more information on this release:
E-mail: labour@cso.ie Sabrina Bowen (+353) 21 453 5151 Catalina Gonzalez (+353) 21 453 5163
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-535X
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Live Register

December 2016

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
December 2015321,616328,200
November 2016273,484285,700
December 2016276,701282,400
   
Change in month-- 3,300
Change in year- 44,915-

Seasonally adjusted Live Register total decreases by 3,300 in December

Live Register Seasonally Adjusted
go to full release

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 3,300 (-1.2%) in December 2016, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 282,400. The number of persons on the Live Register in December 2016 is also the lowest number recorded in the seasonally adjusted series since November 2008. See table 2(a).

In unadjusted terms there were 276,701 persons signing on the Live Register in December 2016. This represents an annual decrease of 44,915 (-14.0%). See table 1(a).

Other features include:

  • On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register showed a monthly decrease of 2,100 (-1.3%) males in December 2016, while females decreased by 1,100 (-0.9%) over the same period. See table 2(a).
  • The number of male claimants decreased by 30,525 (-16.0%) to 160,694 in the year to December 2016, while female claimants decreased by 14,390 (-11.0%) to 116,007.  This compares with a decrease of 25,120 (-11.6%) to 191,219 for males, while female claimants decreased by 9,376 (-6.7%) to 130,397 in the year to December 2015. See table 1(a).

The Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) has been discontinued and has been replaced by the Monthly Unemployment release which is available here.

The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment.  It includes part-time workers (those who work up to three days a week), seasonal and casual workers entitled to Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) or Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA).  Unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey.

 

0
DurationLess than one yearOne year or more
December 2015191316164796
January 2015193828164844
February 2015192348162776
March 2015188273160403
April 2015185063158488
May 2015183749161884
June 2015190032166488
July 2015198206165422
August 2015194807164269
Sepember 2015175947156854
October 2015171191149603
November 2015169793146793
December 2015175442146174
January 2016176347145455
February 2016176245143478
March 2016174600141000
April 2016167563138222
May 2016166571140488
June 2016172051143832
July 2016177313141981
August 2016175950140346
September 2016155718130772
October 2016152156125063
November 2016151596121888
December 2016156790119911

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in December 2016 was 119,911. The number of male long term claimants decreased by 19,267 (-20.7%) in the year to December 2016, while females decreased by 6,996 (-13.2%), giving an overall annual decrease of 26,263 (-18.0%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and figure 2.

In December 2016, 56.7% (156,790) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for December 2015 was 54.6% (175,442). The annual fall of 18,652 (-10.6%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 11,258 (-11.5%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 7,394 (-9.6%) in female short term claimants. See table 6.

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 59,940 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in December 2016, which represents 21.7% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 20.4% one year earlier when there were 65,678 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register.  In the year to December 2016 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 5,738 (-8.7%), with the number of males decreasing by 3,569 (-10.3%) and the number of females decreasing by 2,169 (-7.0%). See table 7.

 

Under 25 years25 years and over
December 201447928308184
December 201538726282890
December 201630308246393

Live Register age groups

In the year to December 2016 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 36,497 (-12.9%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 8,418 (-21.7%).  Annual decreases in persons aged under 25 have occurred in all months since July 2010. The percentage of persons aged under 25 on the Live Register now stands at 11.0% for December 2016, down from 12.0% in December 2015 and 13.5% in December 2014. See tables 1(b) and 1(c) and figure 3.

Live Register new registrants

There were 25,664 new registrants on the Live Register in December 2016, consisting of 11,254 Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) claims, 13,095 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) claims and 1,315 ‘Other Registrants’.  Males accounted for 53.0% (13,611) and females 47.0% (12,053) of all new registrants.  On average 2,722 male and 2,411 female new registrants joined the Live Register each week of the month.  The difference between the number of new registrants on the Live Register and the change in the total number on the Live Register is accounted for by closed claims and movements between schemes. See table 3.

Live Register last occupation held

Craft and related (18.2%) remained the largest occupational group1 on the Live Register in December, despite the fact that the number in the group fell over the year by 11,386 (-18.5%) to 50,254.  The second largest annual percentage decrease was in the Plant and machine operatives group, which decreased by 15.5%.

The two smallest occupational groups in December were the Associate professional and technical and the Managers and administrators groups which accounted for 3.1% and 4.7% of the Live Register respectively. See table 5 and figure 4.

1 While the ‘No Occupation’ group is excluded from the analysis its subtotals are included in the relevant calculations presented in the text.

Broad Occupational GroupDecember 2014December 2015December 2016
1154321453213026
2205281830516599
31011092538556
4347183210729216
5708986164050254
6457584198336567
7375053355128441
8583225194543914
9426583900733209
10201831929316919
KEY  
1- Managers and administrators
2- Professional
3- Associate professional and technical
4- Clerical and secretarial
5- Craft and related
6- Personal and Protective service
7- Sales
8- Plant and machine operatives
9- Other occupation
10- No occupation

 

Live Register by other classifications

Other points which can be noted include:

  • An annual decrease of 38,116 (-15.6%) brought the total number of JA claimants to 206,089 in December 2016, while JB claimants decreased to 40,482 (-9.3%) over the same period.  As a result JA claimants account for 74.5% of all persons on the Live Register in December 2016 compared with 75.9% a year earlier. See table 1(a).
  • Annual decreases occurred in all of the eight NUTS 3 regions with the largest percentage decrease occurring in the Mid-East region (-16.4%) followed by the South-West region (-15.5%). See table 4.
  • In December, Irish nationals accounted for 82.7% (228,800) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 47,901 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU28 States (26,905), followed by the UK (10,612). See table 8.

 

Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of November 2016 on the number of people availing of a range of programmes targeted primarily at the long-term unemployed (over 12 months) and other welfare recipients is provided in the Annex – Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes table.

There were 71,829 people availing of these programmes in November 2016, which is a decrease of 9,469 persons (-11.6%) from the previous year, when there were 81,298 people in activation programmes. 

Persons on activation programmes are not counted as part of the monthly Live Register.

Table 1(a) Total persons on the Live Register
CategoryDecember 2015November 2016December 2016Monthly changeAnnual change
     
Males  
    JB Claims21,60617,49718,907+1,410-2,699
    JA Applications158,291131,538131,680+142-26,611
    Other Registrants11,32210,13910,107-32-1,215
    Total191,219159,174160,694+1,520-30,525
     
Females     
    JB Claims23,03519,51621,575+2,059-1,460
    JA Applications85,91474,82474,409-415-11,505
    Other Registrants21,44819,97020,023+53-1,425
    Total130,397114,310116,007+1,697-14,390
     
All Persons     
    JB Claims44,64137,01340,482+3,469-4,159
    JA Applications244,205206,362206,089-273-38,116
    Other Registrants32,77030,10930,130+21-2,640
    Total321,616273,484276,701+3,217-44,915
      
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 1(a) (XLS 32KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategoryDecember 2015November 2016December 2016Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims1,269941942+1-327
    JA Applications21,78717,03916,856-183-4,931
    Other Registrants102103104+1+2
    Total23,15818,08317,902-181-5,256
      
Females     
    JB Claims1,069960987+27-82
    JA Applications14,37811,70611,332-374-3,046
    Other Registrants12110287-15-34
    Total15,56812,76812,406-362-3,162
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims2,3381,9011,929+28-409
    JA Applications36,16528,74528,188-557-7,977
    Other Registrants223205191-14-32
    Total38,72630,85130,308-543-8,418
      
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 1(b) (XLS 32KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategoryDecember 2015November 2016December 2016Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims20,33716,55617,965+1,409-2,372
    JA Applications136,504114,499114,824+325-21,680
    Other Registrants11,22010,03610,003-33-1,217
    Total168,061141,091142,792+1,701-25,269
      
Females     
    JB Claims21,96618,55620,588+2,032-1,378
    JA Applications71,53663,11863,077-41-8,459
    Other Registrants21,32719,86819,936+68-1,391
    Total114,829101,542103,601+2,059-11,228
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims42,30335,11238,553+3,441-3,750
    JA Applications208,040177,617177,901+284-30,139
    Other Registrants32,54729,90429,939+35-2,608
    Total282,890242,633246,393+3,760-36,497
      
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 1(c) (XLS 32KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
  Unadjusted Series Seasonally Adjusted Series1
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
        
2014December216,300139,800356,100219,900143,700363,600
 
2015January218,700140,000358,700217,600142,700360,300
 February215,900139,200355,100214,300141,600356,000
March212,000136,600348,700211,800139,300351,100
 April208,300135,200343,600209,900139,900349,800
 May208,700137,000345,600207,700139,600347,300
 June211,400145,100356,500206,100138,900344,900
 July210,300153,300363,600203,900139,400343,300
 August208,400150,700359,100202,100138,300340,400
 September197,500135,300332,800200,300137,300337,600
 October189,700131,100320,800196,400136,300332,800
 November188,200128,400316,600195,200134,900330,200
 December191,200130,400321,600194,200134,100328,200
2016January191,800130,000321,800190,600132,800323,400
 February190,200129,500319,700188,700131,800320,500
 March186,300129,300315,600185,800131,100316,900
 April181,500124,300305,800183,100129,400312,500
 May181,300125,700307,100180,500128,300308,800
 June182,100133,800315,900177,600127,800305,400
July180,500138,800319,300175,200125,300300,500
August178,600137,700316,300173,300125,500298,800
September166,700119,800286,500169,200122,100291,300
October161,500115,700277,200167,400120,800288,300
November159,200114,300273,500165,100120,500285,700
 December160,700116,000276,700 163,000119,400282,400
1 Table contains revised figures.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 2(a) (XLS 33KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 2(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
 Unadjusted Series Seasonally Adjusted Series1
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
       
2014December28,60019,30047,90030,20021,10051,300
 
2015January29,30020,00049,30029,80020,90050,600
 February28,80019,70048,50029,00020,40049,400
March28,00019,00047,10028,50020,00048,500
 April27,30018,50045,90028,10019,70047,800
 May27,80019,30047,10027,60019,60047,200
 June28,80020,70049,50027,30019,00046,300
 July28,80021,50050,30026,80018,90045,700
 August28,60021,30049,90026,40018,50044,900
 September26,30018,80045,20026,20018,30044,500
 October24,10017,00041,10025,20017,80042,900
 November23,30016,10039,40024,80017,50042,300
 December23,20015,60038,70024,50017,10041,600
 
2016January23,70016,10039,80024,10016,80040,900
 February23,70016,10039,80023,80016,60040,400
 March22,70015,60038,40023,10016,30039,400
 April22,00014,90036,90022,60015,90038,500
 May22,20015,50037,70022,10015,70037,700
 June22,80016,80039,50021,50015,40037,000
 July22,60017,30039,90021,10015,10036,200
 August22,40017,20039,50020,60014,90035,500
September20,00014,50034,600 20,00014,20034,100
October18,80013,40032,300 19,70014,10033,800
November18,10012,80030,90019,30013,90033,200
 December17,90012,40030,300 19,00013,70032,600
1 Table contains revised figures.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 2(b) (XLS 33KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 2(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
  Unadjusted SeriesSeasonally Adjusted Series1
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
        
2014December187,800120,400308,200 189,700122,600312,300
 
2015January189,300120,000309,400 187,800121,800309,600
 February187,100119,500306,600 185,300121,200306,600
March184,000117,600301,600 183,300119,400302,700
 April181,000116,700297,700 181,800120,200302,000
 May180,900117,600298,500 180,100120,000300,100
 June182,600124,400307,000 178,800119,800298,600
 July181,500131,900313,300 177,000120,600297,600
 August179,800129,400309,200 175,700119,700295,500
 September171,200116,400287,600 174,100119,000293,100
 October165,600114,100279,700 171,300118,600289,800
 November164,900112,300277,200 170,400117,400287,800
 December168,100114,800282,900 169,700117,000286,600
2016January168,000114,000282,000 166,600115,900282,500
 February166,600113,400279,900 164,900115,200280,000
 March163,600113,600277,200 162,700114,800277,500
April159,500109,300268,800160,500113,400273,900
May159,200110,200269,400158,500112,600271,000
June159,300117,000276,300156,100112,300268,400
July157,900121,500279,400154,100110,200264,400
August156,300120,500276,800152,600110,600263,200
September146,700105,200251,900 149,200108,000257,200
October142,700102,300245,000 147,700106,800254,500
November141,100101,500242,600145,800106,600252,400
December142,800103,600246,400144,100105,700249,800
1 Table contains revised figures.     
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 2(c) (XLS 33KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 3 Summary of flows1 on and off the Live Register
   Males Females
  Number of Weeks New Regis-trations Average Weekly Change  New Regis-trations Average Weekly Change
  Live RegisterOutflow (derived) Live RegisterOutflow (derived)
   
JB Claims           
2015December521,6065,3083,389+384 23,035     5,3393,297+408
 
2016January422,6706,8815,817+266 22,832     7,2787,481-51
 February422,7115,1115,070+10 22,839     5,6535,646+2
March521,8645,0285,875-169 23,6696,2915,461+166
April 420,3884,6216,097-369 20,7295,6218,561-735
May419,6753,6394,352-178 20,7444,4074,392+4
June519,6235,1175,169-10 25,1989,4344,980+891
 July419,6844,0864,025+15 28,9317,8834,150+933
 August419,3773,4983,805-77 28,2624,0014,670-167
 September517,4464,3566,287-386 19,6514,65013,261-1,722
 October417,1673,8024,081-70 18,9643,5864,273-172
November417,4974,5494,219+83 19,5166,7626,210+138
December518,9075,1133,703+282 21,5756,1414,082+412
           
JA Applications           
2015December5158,2918,2407,174+213 85,9144,6674,913-49
 
2016January4157,8778,9329,346-104 86,0006,0785,992+22
 February4156,4818,3469,742-349 85,5585,6166,058-111
March5153,4598,37111,393-604 84,5795,7936,772-196
April 4150,2617,28110,479-800 82,8124,9896,756-442
May4150,8856,9356,311+156 84,2745,0303,568+366
June5151,77610,0039,112+178 87,6158,6145,273+668
July4150,2647,4428,954-37888,5076,4895,597+223
August4148,7487,0888,604-37988,0755,1785,610-108
September5139,03310,03919,754-1,943 79,9087,19915,366-1,633
October4134,1798,15313,007-1,214 76,6195,3998,688-822
November4131,5387,62710,268-660 74,8245,3197,114-449
December5131,6808,0447,902+28 74,4095,0515,466-83
           
Other Registrants           
2015December511,322498418+16 21,448840671+34
 
2016January411,209499612-28 21,2149241,158-59
 February411,056368521-38 21,078795931-34
March511,007475524-10 21,022918974-11
April 410,863340484-36 20,7328191,109-73
May410,775314402-22 20,706622648-7
June510,678468565-19 20,9931,250963+57
July410,589428517-2221,3191,134808+82
August410,513346422-1921,321726724+1
September510,244433702-54 20,2088531,966-223
October410,195389438-12 20,095729842-28
November410,139426482-14 19,9709771,102-31
December510,107454486-6 20,023861808+11
1 Flow analysis: inflows and outflows published in this table do not take account of inter-scheme activity within the Live Register. For example,
if a claimant exhausts his/her entitlement to JB and opens a new JA claim this is counted as an outflow in JB and an inflow in JA. 
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 3 (XLS 37KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 4 Persons on the Live Register classified by region
NUTS2 and NUTS3 Regions1December 2015November 2016December 2016Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
        
Males       
      Border, Midland and Western59,53650,07150,457+386-9,0795,97244,485
      Border27,04622,67822,840+162-4,2062,73620,104
      Midland15,37612,82412,843+19-2,5331,61811,225
      West17,11414,56914,774+205-2,3401,61813,156
        
      Southern and Eastern131,683109,103110,237+1,134-21,44611,93098,307
      Dublin46,87240,00739,932-75-6,9404,13935,793
      Mid-East17,70814,48014,526+46-3,1821,64812,878
      Mid-West16,11013,25713,593+336-2,5171,63411,959
      South-East25,89621,12621,522+396-4,3742,56018,962
      South-West25,09720,23320,664+431-4,4331,94918,715
      Total191,219159,174160,694+1,520-30,52517,902142,792
        
Females       
      Border, Midland and Western41,96837,25337,800+547-4,1684,37433,426
      Border18,84816,58816,802+214-2,0462,00314,799
      Midland10,9259,8519,858+7-1,0671,3178,541
      West12,19510,81411,140326-1,0551,05410,086
        
      Southern and Eastern88,42977,05778,207+1,150-10,2228,03270,175
      Dublin29,34826,28826,192-96-3,1562,53423,658
      Mid-East13,38611,42311,481+58-1,9051,11410,367
      Mid-West11,1409,4729,756+284-1,3841,1708,586
      South-East17,38015,30415,707+403-1,6731,88113,826
      South-West17,17514,57015,071+501-2,1041,33313,738
      Total130,397114,310116,007+1,697-14,39012,406103,601
        
All Persons       
      Border, Midland and Western101,50487,32488,257+933-13,24710,34677,911
      Border45,89439,26639,642+376-6,2524,73934,903
      Midland26,30122,67522,701+26-3,6002,93519,766
      West29,30925,38325,914+531-3,3952,67223,242
        
      Southern and Eastern220,112186,160188,444+2,284-31,66819,962168,482
      Dublin76,22066,29566,124-171-10,0966,67359,451
      Mid-East31,09425,90326,007+104-5,0872,76223,245
      Mid-West27,25022,72923,349+620-3,9012,80420,545
      South-East43,27636,43037,229+799-6,0474,44132,788
      South-West42,27234,80335,735     +932-6,5373,28232,453
      Total321,616273,484276,701+3,217-44,91530,308246,393
1 The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 4 (XLS 35KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
 December 2015November 2016December 2016Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Broad occupational group
        
Males       
Managers and administrators8,3277,4937,445-48-8821837,262
Professional8,3147,3997,483+84-8313807,103
Associate professional and technical 5,2444,6704,724+54-5204364,288
Clerical and secretarial8,5177,4057,618+213-8996586,960
Craft and related 55,00543,42343,884+461-11,1212,71041,174
Personal and protective service13,79511,61711,831+214-1,9641,10710,724
Sales12,40810,66310,491-172-1,9172,0928,399
Plant and machine operatives38,68531,65732,250+593-6,4353,31328,937
Other occupation29,40324,60824,866+258-4,5373,49521,371
No occupation111,52110,23910,102-137-1,4193,5286,574
Total 191,219159,174160,694+1,520-30,52517,902142,792
        
Females       
Managers and administrators6,2055,5495,581+32-6241055,476
Professional9,9918,7979,116+319-8753938,723
Associate professional and technical 4,0093,7923,832+40-1772373,595
Clerical and secretarial23,59020,35621,598+1,242-1,99284320,755
Craft and related 6,6356,2546,370+116-2657085,662
Personal and protective service28,18824,26924,736+467-3,4522,66322,073
Sales21,14318,26217,950-312-3,1932,35115,599
Plant and machine operatives13,26011,69611,664-32-1,5961,34110,323
Other occupation9,6048,4178,343-74-1,2611,5816,762
No occupation17,7726,9186,817-101-9552,1844,633
Total130,397114,310116,007+1,697-14,39012,406103,601
        
All Persons       
Managers and administrators14,53213,04213,026-16-1,50628812,738
Professional18,30516,19616,599+403-1,70677315,826
Associate professional and technical 9,2538,4628,556+94-6976737,883
Clerical and secretarial32,10727,76129,216+1,455-2,8911,50127,715
Craft and related 61,64049,67750,254+577-11,3863,41846,836
Personal and protective service41,98335,88636,567+681-5,4163,77032,797
Sales33,55128,92528,441-484-5,1104,44323,998
Plant and machine operatives51,94543,35343,914+561-8,0314,65439,260
Other occupation39,00733,02533,209+184-5,7985,07628,133
No occupation119,29317,15716,919-238-2,3745,71211,207
Total 321,616273,484276,701+3,217-44,91530,308246,393
        
1 Includes those who never worked and those who have no stated occupation.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 5 (XLS 35KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 6 Persons on the Live Register classified by duration of continuous registration
 December 2015November 2016December 2016Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Duration
        
Males
   Less than one year98,02284,08486,764+2,680-11,25812,37174,393
   One year or more93,19775,09073,930-1,160-19,2675,53168,399
   Total191,219159,174160,694+1,520-30,52517,902142,792
       
Females       
   Less than one year77,42067,51270,026+2,514-7,3949,04260,984
   One year or more52,97746,79845,981-817-6,9963,36442,617
   Total130,397114,310116,007+1,697-14,39012,406103,601
       
All Persons       
   Less than one year175,442151,596156,790+5,194-18,65221,413135,377
   One year or more146,174121,888119,911-1,977-26,2638,895111,016
   Total321,616273,484276,701+3,217-44,91530,308246,393
        
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 6 (XLS 31KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 7 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register
   MalesMonthly change FemalesMonthly change All PersonsMonthly change
          
2014December 38,681-33 33,681+118 72,362+85
 
2015January 38,549-132 33,536-145 72,085-277
 February 38,443-106 33,712+176 72,155+70
March 38,119-324 33,285-427 71,404-751
 April 37,401-718 32,780-505 70,181-1,223
 May 36,899-502 32,360-420 69,259-922
 June 36,854-45 32,611+251 69,465+206
 July 36,457-397 32,342-269 68,799-666
 August 35,795-662 31,693-649 67,488-1,311
 September 34,813-982 30,862-831 65,675-1,813
 October 34,418-395 30,766-96 65,184-491
 November 34,729+311 30,949+183 65,678+494
 December 34,737 + 8 30,941- 8 65,6780
2016January 34,470-267 30,800-141 65,270-408
 February 34,828+358 31,152+352 65,980+710
 March 34,417-411 31,060-92 65,477-503
 April 33,831-586 30,552-508 64,383-1,094
 May 33,566-265 30,289-263 63,855-528
 June 33,504-62 30,244-45 63,748-107
 July 32,567-937 29,513-731 62,080-1,668
 August 32,176-391 29,217-296 61,393-687
 September 31,274-902 28,354-863 59,628-1,765
 October 31,119-155 28,317-37 59,436-192
 November 31,125   +6 28,560+243 59,685+249
 December 31,168   +43 28,772+212 59,940+255
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 7 (XLS 34KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 8 Persons on the Live Register classified by nationality grouping 
  Nationality grouping 
  Non-Irish nationals     
   EU15 excl. IRL & UKEU15 to EU28 States     
United Kingdom  Non-Irish nationalsIrish nationalsAll Persons
  Other  
         
2014December13,6323,64434,0909,074 60,440295,672356,112
 
2015January13,6653,68835,2198,916 61,488297,184358,672
 February13,5373,60135,1668,706 61,010294,114355,124
March13,3143,38934,4468,710 59,859288,817348,676
 April 13,0543,30633,6708,671 58,701284,850343,551
 May13,0413,30033,1388,920 58,399287,234345,633
 June13,3513,38133,1959,419 59,346297,174356,520
 July13,4633,41832,6599,433 58,973304,655363,628
 August13,2643,39532,2169,431 58,306300,770359,076
 September12,4123,21830,6708,844 55,144277,657332,801
 October11,9913,15029,9668,280 53,387267,407320,794
 November11,8753,29430,2118,158 53,538263,048316,586
 December12,0683,36630,8878,127 54,448267,168321,616
2016January12,0873,43031,3988,010 54,925266,877321,802
 February12,0283,39031,5908,138 55,146264,577319,723
 March11,8763,26231,0147,984 54,136261,464315,600
 April11,5353,22230,0667,911 52,734253,051305,785
 May11,5663,21729,4978,267 52,547254,512307,059
 June11,8333,32229,3438,693 53,191262,692315,883
 July11,8643,31428,8728,721 52,771266,523319,294
 August11,7273,33328,2518,648 51,959264,337316,296
 September10,8273,07726,6817,779 48,364238,126286,490
 October10,5463,04126,1987,304 47,089230,130277,219
 November10,4963,15226,1947,160 47,002226,482273,484
 December10,6123,21926,9057,165 47,901228,800276,701
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 8 (XLS 35KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 9 Live Register Compositional Analysis
 December 2013December 2014December 2015December 2016
  % of total % of total % of total % of total
 NumberNumberNumberNumber
Sex        
Males245,72162.1216,33960.8191,21959.5160,69458.1
Females149,69037.9139,77339.2130,39740.5116,00741.9
Total395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0276,701100.0
        
Age        
Under 25 years59,14815.047,92813.538,72612.030,30811.0
25 years and over336,26385.0308,18486.5282,89088.0246,39389.0
Total395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0276,701100.0
        
Scheme        
JB Claims59,64615.149,62013.944,64113.940,48214.6
JA Applications300,59076.0271,64676.3244,20575.9206,08974.5
Other Registrants35,1758.934,8469.832,77010.230,13010.9
Total395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0276,701100.0
         
Duration of Continuous Registration        
Less than one year215,79054.6191,31653.7175,44254.6156,79056.7
One year or more179,62145.4164,79646.3146,17445.4119,91143.3
Total395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0276,701100.0
         
Nationality Grouping        
Irish Nationals326,93482.7295,67283.0267,16883.1228,80082.7
Non-Irish Nationals68,47717.360,44017.054,44816.947,90117.3
Total395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0276,701100.0
         
NUTS2 Regions1        
Border, Midland and Western123,68031.3112,35831.6101,50431.688,25731.9
Southern and Eastern271,73168.7243,75468.4220,11268.4188,44468.1
Total395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0276,701100.0
         
Last Held Occupation        
Managers and administrators16,3594.115,4324.314,5324.513,0264.7
Professional22,4855.720,5285.818,3055.716,5996.0
Associate professional and technical11,2802.910,1102.89,2532.98,5563.1
Clerical and secretarial37,7829.634,7189.732,10710.029,21610.6
Craft and related 83,87521.270,89819.961,64019.250,25418.2
Personal and protective service49,68912.645,75812.841,98313.136,56713.2
Sales42,11810.737,50510.533,55110.428,44110.3
Plant and machine operatives65,31016.558,32216.451,94516.243,91415.9
Other occupation45,97111.642,65812.039,00712.133,20912.0
No occupation220,5425.220,1835.719,2936.016,9196.1
Total395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0276,701100.0
         
Casual Status        
No casual and part-time work314,02979.4283,75079.7255,93879.6216,76178.3
Casual and part-time work81,38220.672,36220.365,67820.459,94021.7
Total395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0276,701100.0
         
1 The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes.
2 Includes those who never worked and those who have no stated occupation.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 Table 9 (XLS 16KB)
upArrowHide Table
Annex Table A1 - Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes  
 November 2015October 2016November 2016
Back to Work Schemes   
Back to Work allowance scheme - Employee strand1000
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand11,86111,07711,042
Short-term Enterprise Allowance2 430396394
Total Back to Work payments 12,29111,47311,436
   
Other Activation Programmes   
DSP Part-time Job Incentive448488482
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) 7,8597,4197,299
JobBridge (2011)34,8443,3903,390
Gateway (2013)42,370839807
Total Other Activation Programmes15,52112,13611,978
       
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors) 22,72322,04022,205
   
FAS (Solas) Full Time Training for Unemployed People57,3046,7287,075
       
Back to Education Courses   
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)6N/AN/AN/A
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)718,45913,50114,135
Total Back to Education Courses 23,45918,50119,135
       
Total Activation Programmes81,29870,87871,829
    
1 This scheme was closed to new applications from 1st May 2009.
2 This scheme was introduced from 1st May 2009. It provides immediate support for someone in receipt of Jobseekers
Benefit who wants to start a business.   
3JobBridge figure estimated at 3,390 for October and November 2016 as data unavailable at time of publication
4 Gateway Scheme included from December 2013.   
5 Specific Skills Training/Local Training initiative/Traineeship/Return to Work. 
6 VTOS figures are estimated at 5,000 each year.
7 BTEA figures include all schemes but participants from JA & JB are not entitled to BTEA during the summer holidays.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2016 - Annex (XLS 35KB)
upArrowHide Table

Background Notes

Source and scope of the Live Register

The Live Register is compiled from returns made for each local office to the Central Statistics Office by the Department of Social Protection.  It comprises of persons under 65 years of age in the following classes:

  • All Claimants for Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) excluding systematic short-time workers
  • Applicants for Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) excluding smallholders/farm assists and other self-employed persons
  • Other registrants including applicants for credited Social Welfare contributions but excluding those directly involved in an industrial dispute.

The Live Register excludes those claimants on Jobseeker schemes who are 65 years of age and over. There was no change to this exclusion criterion with the removal of the State Pension (Transition) Scheme from 1st January 2014. Persons aged 65 years can remain on a Jobseeker scheme up to their next birthday but are not included in the Live Register.

 

Reference Period

The reference periods for the Live Register results are as follows:

December 2016 – 27th November to 31st December 2016
December 2015 – 29th November 2015 to 2nd January 2016

From May 2015 (reference period) the reference period refers to the week of the last Thursday in the month, previously the reference period referred to the week of the last Friday in the month.

The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment.  It includes part-time (those who work up to three days a week), seasonal and casual workers entitled to Jobseekers Allowance and or Jobseekers Benefit.  Monthly unemployment is measured by the Monthly Unemployment release and quarterly unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey (formerly the Annual Labour Force Survey).

 

Standardised unemployment rates

The Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) series, previously in Table 3, has been discontinued from May 2015. It has been replaced by the Monthly Unemployment series, which is published two days before the Live Register.

 

QNHS

The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS), which began in September 1997, replaced the Labour Force Survey and provides quarterly estimates of the unemployment rate. Up to and including the fourth quarter of 2008 the QNHS operated on a seasonal quarter basis.  As of the first quarter 2009 the QNHS is now undertaken on a calendar quarter basis.

The calendar reference quarters for survey results are:
Q1 - January to March, Q2 - April to June, Q3 - July to September and Q4 - October to December.

 

Seasonal Adjustment

Since January 2011 the seasonal adjustment of the Live Register is completed by applying the X-12-ARIMA model, developed by the U.S. Census Bureau. Seasonal adjustment is conducted using the indirect approach, where each individual series is independently adjusted (male under 25 years, female under 25 years, male 25 years and over and female 25 years and over). To preserve consistency between the individual and aggregate series, the series for gender, age group and total Live Register are then created from these four component series.

 The X-12 ARIMA method has the X-11 moving averages process at its core, but builds on this by providing options for pre-treating the series using a regARIMA approach for prior adjustment and series extension. In essence this methodology will estimate seasonal factors while taking account of temporary changes, outliers, level shifts and calendar effects (e.g timing of Easter).

All Live Register series are updated monthly with the latest three years of seasonally adjusted data as part of the concurrent approach. The comprehensive annual review contains revisions to the entire series. Revisions to the series are typically very minor in scale.

For additional information on the use of X-12-ARIMA see detailed note in the January 2011 Live Register release.

 

Jobseeker’s Benefit Duration

Prior to 19 January 2004 Jobseeker’s Benefit was payable for 15 months (390 days).

From 19 January 2004, Jobseeker’s Benefit could be paid for a maximum of 15 months (390 days) to people who had at least 260 paid PRSI contributions.  Jobseeker’s Benefit could be paid for a maximum of 12 months (312 days) to people who had less than 260 paid contributions (Refers to new claims).

From 15 October 2008, Jobseeker’s Benefit could be paid for a maximum of 12 months (312 days) to people who had at least 260 paid PRSI contributions.  Jobseeker’s Benefit could be paid for a maximum of 9 months (234 days) to people who had less than 260 paid contributions.

As of 3 April 2013, Jobseeker’s Benefit can be paid for a maximum of 9 months (234 days) to people who have 260 paid PRSI contributions. Jobseeker’s Benefit can be paid for a maximum of 6 months (156 days) to people who have less than 260 paid contributions (Refers to new claims).

Claimants getting Jobseeker’s Benefit for 6 months or more on 3 April 2013 (or 3 months for people with fewer than 260 contributions) will not be affected.

 

One-Parent Family Payment (OFP)

The One-Parent Family Payment is a social welfare payment for men and women who are younger than 66 and bring up children without the support of a partner and meet certain other criteria. Claimants on this scheme are not counted as part of the Live Register.

From July 2013 new rules came into operation reducing the age limits for the One-Parent Family Payment. This means that some people no longer qualify for the payment and may avail of other schemes or supports.

As a consequence, approximately 2,800 people in July 2013, 1,300 people in July 2014 and 2,786 people in July 2015, previously receiving the One-Parent Family Payment, made a claim for Jobseekers Allowance (JA) and will therefore appear on the Live Register.

For information on the age-related changes to the OFP scheme from July 2013, please see the following link to the Department of Social Protection website:

http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/278_One-Parent-Family-Payment.aspx

 

Live Register Flows

Live Register flows data is sourced from information collected by the Department of Social Protection.  The aggregate of new registrations for each month is used in conjunction with the net change over the same period to calculate the outflow from the register.  A new registration is defined as anybody on the Live Register in a particular month who was not on it the previous month.  Inflows and outflows published in this release do not take account of inter-scheme activity within the Live Register.  For example, if a claimant exhausts his/her entitlement to JB and opens a new JA claim this is counted as an outflow in JB and an inflow in JA.

 

 

Live Register Area Analysis

The basis of the area analysis in Live Register statistics is the Department of Social Protection local office of registration.  The areas served by Local Employment Offices do not correspond to specific geographic boundaries.  Therefore, registrants at a given local office do not necessarily come from a particular region or area which can be precisely delineated e.g. data for the Cork City Local Offices of Registration refers to all persons signing on in Cork City but may include persons not resident in Cork City.  The latest available Live Register data by Province, County and Local Office of Registration will be released on the CSO website through the CSO StatBank one day after the publication of this release, see link here.

 

NUTS2 and NUTS3 regions

The Regional classifications are based on the NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) classification used by Eurostat.  The NUTS3 regions correspond to the eight Regional Authorities established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order, 1993, which came into operation on 1 January 1994.  The NUTS2 regions, which were proposed by Government and agreed by Eurostat in 1999, are groupings of the NUTS3 regions.

Border, Midland and Western NUTS2 Region      Southern and Eastern NUTS2 Region          
Border Cavan Dublin Dublin City
  Donegal   Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown
  Leitrim   Fingal
  Louth   South Dublin
  Monaghan    
  Sligo Mid-East Kildare
      Meath
Midland Laois   Wicklow
  Longford Mid-West Clare
  Offaly   Limerick City
  Westmeath   Limerick County
      North Tipperary
West Galway City    
  Galway County South-East Carlow
  Mayo   Kilkenny
  Roscommon   South Tipperary
      Waterford City
      Waterford County
      Wexford
       
    South-West Cork City
      Cork County
      Kerry

 

Occupations

Live Register occupational data is sourced from information collected by the Department of Social Protection on the most recent occupation of claimants when they sign on the Live Register.  The classification used is based on the UK Standard Occupational Classification (SOC).  “No occupation” is an additional category and includes those who have never worked and those who have no stated occupation.

 

Age by Duration Analysis

Detailed tables relating to regional and scheme data are available on the CSO website through the CSO Main Data Dissemination Service, StatBank on a bi-annual basis, at the following link: Click here

 

Casual and part-time workers

The casual and part-time workers’ figure is based on data supplied by the Department of Social Protection.  People may apply for Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Allowance if they only work for part of a week and be included on the Live Register.

 

Nationality

Data in the nationality grouping table is sourced from information collected by the Department of Social Protection on the nationality of claimants when they first sign on the Live Register.

For further information or assistance use the contact details on the front page of the release or e-mail labour@cso.ie

upArrowHide Background Notes

Scan the QR code below to view this release online or go to
http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/lr/liveregisterdecember2016/

Contact:

Central Statistics Office
Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

Tel:
(+353) 21 453 5000
E-Mail:
information@cso.ie

Links:

Follow: