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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

February 2017

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
February 2016319,449320,300
January 2017276,892278,800
February 2017275,093276,000
   
Change in month-- 2,800
Change in year- 44,356-

Seasonally adjusted Live Register total decreases by 2,800 in February

Live Register Seasonally adjusted
go to full release

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 2,800 (-1.0%) in February 2017, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 276,000. The number of persons on the Live Register in February 2017 is also the lowest number recorded in the seasonally adjusted series since November 2008. See table 2(a).

In unadjusted terms there were 275,093 persons signing on the Live Register in February 2017. This represents an annual decrease of 44,356 (-13.9%). 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 February 2017, while females decreased by 800 (-0.7%) over the same period. See table 2(a).
  • The number of male claimants decreased by 30,372 (-16.0%) to 159,748 in the year to February 2017, while female claimants decreased by 13,984 (-10.8%) to 115,345.  This compares with a decrease of 25,637 (-11.9%) to 190,120 for males, while female claimants decreased by 9,772 (-11.3%) to 129,329 in the year to February 2016. 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 The Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) has been discontinued and has been replaced by the Monthly Unemployment release which is available here.

Beginning with January 2017, the Live Register monthly release will be produced using claimant microdata from the Department of Social Protection's (DSP) Integrated Short Term Scheme (ISTS) database, whereas prior to January 2017, the Live Register was produced from tabulated claimant counts provided directly to the CSO by the DSP. This new approach will continue to support the production of current Live Register data while it will also facilitate additional future analyses being undertaken by CSO.


As claimant count microdata is retrospectively available to January 2012, previously published Live Register data for this period have been revised with data now also produced from this claimant count microdata. These revisions are generally minor in nature and are included in this release as well as all relevant Statbank tables.

 

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
February 2015192158162700
March 2015188070160327
April 2015184861158397
May 2015183537161794
June 2015189797166399
July 2015197977165336
August 2015194612164187
Sepember 2015175741156729
October 2015171005149526
November 2015169616146715
December 2015174882145764
January 2016176143145370
February 2016176063143386
March 2016174427140937
April 2016167357138183
May 2016166397140425
June 2016171883143771
July 2016177093141902
August 2016175760140258
September 2016155532130571
October 2016151993124816
November 2016151452121708
December 2016156651119851
January 2017157629119263
February 2017158045117048

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in February 2017 was 117,048. The number of male long term claimants decreased by 19,222 (-21.1%) in the year to February 2017, while females decreased by 7,116 (-13.6%), giving an overall annual decrease of 26,338 (-18.4%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and figure 2.

In February 2017, 57.5% (158,045) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for February 2016 was 55.1% (176,063). The annual fall of 18,018 (-10.2%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 11,150 (-11.3%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 6,868 (-8.9%) in female short term claimants. See table 6.

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 59,896 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in February 2017, which represents 21.8% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 20.6% one year earlier when there were 65,929 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register.  In the year to February 2017 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 6,033 (-9.2%), with the number of males decreasing by 3,749 (-10.8%) and the number of females decreasing by 2,284 (-7.3%). See table 7.

 

Under 25 years25 years and over
February 201548474306384
February 201639748279701
February 201731476243617

Live Register age groups

In the year to February 2017 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 36,084 (-12.9%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 8,272 (-20.8%).  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 11.4% for February 2017, down from 12.4% in February 2016 and 13.7% in February 2015. See tables 1(b) and 1(c) and figure 3.

Live Register new registrants

There were 20,268 new registrants on the Live Register in February 2017, consisting of 11,303 Jobseekers Allowance (JA) claims, 8,050 Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) claims and 915 “Other Registrants”. Males accounted for 53.6% (10,868) and females 46.4% (9,400) of all new registrants. JA claims represented 55.8% of all new registrations, while JB claims and “Other Registrants” represented 39.7% and 4.5% respectively.  See table 3.

Live Register last occupation held

Craft and related (18.3%) remained the largest occupational group1 on the Live Register in February, despite the fact that the number in the group fell over the year by 11,290 (-18.4%) to 50,213.  The second largest annual percentage decrease was in the Sales group, which decreased by 15.7%.

The two smallest occupational groups in February 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 GroupFebruary 2015February 2016February 2017
1155051437712805
2193151743215747
3986891698494
4333333065328363
5708736150350213
6460594199036561
7388583494729455
8586165205643922
9425673839032852
10198641893216681
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 38,221 (-15.8%) brought the total number of JA claimants to 203,677 in February 2017, while JB claimants decreased to 41,663 (-8.4%) over the same period.  As a result JA claimants account for 74.0% of all persons on the Live Register in February 2017 compared with 75.7% 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 (-16.6%) followed by the South-West region (-15.1%). See table 4.
  • In February, Irish nationals accounted for 82.4% (226,763) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 48,330 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU28 States (27,369), followed by the UK (10,524). See table 8.

Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of January 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 69,559 people availing of these programmes in January 2017, which is a decrease of 10,671 persons (-13.3%) from the previous year, when there were 80,230 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
CategoryFebruary 2016January 2017February 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
     
Males  
    JB Claims22,67319,83119,850+19-2,823
    JA Applications156,410131,521129,924-1,597-26,486
    Other Registrants11,03710,0139,974-39-1,063
    Total190,120161,365159,748-1,617-30,372
     
Females     
    JB Claims22,79521,43321,813+380-982
    JA Applications85,48874,26173,753-508-11,735
    Other Registrants21,04619,83319,779-54-1,267
    Total129,329115,527115,345-182-13,984
     
All Persons     
    JB Claims45,46841,26441,663+399-3,805
    JA Applications241,898205,782203,677-2,105-38,221
    Other Registrants32,08329,84629,753-93-2,330
    Total319,449276,892275,093-1,799-44,356
      
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 1(a) (XLS 36KB)
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Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategoryFebruary 2016January 2017February 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims1,4561,1071,172+65-284
    JA Applications22,11417,24917,118-131-4,996
    Other Registrants94104108+4+14
    Total23,66418,46018,398-62-5,266
      
Females     
    JB Claims1,2971,1331,144+11-153
    JA Applications14,66811,71011,842+132-2,826
    Other Registrants1199392-1-27
    Total16,08412,93613,078+142-3,006
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims2,7532,2402,316+76-437
    JA Applications36,78228,95928,960+1-7,822
    Other Registrants213197200+3-13
    Total39,74831,39631,476+80-8,272
      
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 1(b) (XLS 35KB)
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Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategoryFebruary 2016January 2017February 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims21,21718,72418,678-46-2,539
    JA Applications134,296114,272112,806-1,466-21,490
    Other Registrants10,9439,9099,866-43-1,077
    Total166,456142,905141,350-1,555-25,106
      
Females     
    JB Claims21,49820,30020,669+369-829
    JA Applications70,82062,55161,911-640-8,909
    Other Registrants20,92719,74019,687-53-1,240
    Total113,245102,591102,267-324-10,978
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims42,71539,02439,347+323-3,368
    JA Applications205,116176,823174,717-2,106-30,399
    Other Registrants31,87029,64929,553-96-2,317
    Total279,701245,496243,617-1,879-36,084
      
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 1(c) (XLS 36KB)
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Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
  Unadjusted Series Seasonally Adjusted Series¹
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
         
2015February215,757139,101354,858 214,200141,500355,700
 March211,892136,505348,397 211,700139,100350,800
 April208,160135,098343,258 209,800139,700349,500
 May208,518136,813345,331 207,500139,400346,900
 June211,276144,920356,196 205,900138,700344,600
 July210,156153,157363,313 203,700139,100342,800
 August208,276150,523358,799 202,000138,100340,100
 September197,385135,085332,470 200,200137,100337,300
 October189,549130,982320,531 196,400136,100332,600
 November188,042128,289316,331 195,100134,800329,900
 December190,656129,990320,646 193,600133,800327,400
         
2016January191,631129,882321,513 190,600132,800323,400
 February190,120129,329319,449 188,600131,700320,300
 March186,221129,143315,364 185,700130,900316,600
 April181,386124,154305,540 182,900129,300312,200
 May181,232125,590306,822 180,400128,100308,500
 June181,980133,674315,654 177,500127,600305,100
 July180,414138,581318,995 175,000125,000300,000
 August178,515137,503316,018 173,100125,300298,500
 September166,522119,581286,103 169,000121,900290,900
 October161,307115,502276,809 167,300120,600287,900
 November158,996114,164273,160 165,000120,500285,500
 December160,588115,914276,502 162,900119,500282,300
         
2017January161,365115,527276,892 160,500118,400278,800
 February159,748115,345275,093 158,400117,600276,000
¹ Table contains revised figures    
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 2(a) (XLS 46KB)
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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
         
2015February28,80019,67448,474 29,00020,40049,300
 March28,00019,01547,015 28,50019,90048,400
 April27,31018,50245,812 28,10019,70047,800
 May27,72819,29947,027 27,60019,50047,100
 June28,79920,63649,435 27,20019,00046,200
 July28,80021,45850,258 26,80018,80045,600
 August28,52921,27449,803 26,40018,50044,900
 September26,29818,80245,100 26,20018,30044,500
 October24,05516,97741,032 25,20017,70042,900
 November23,22816,08839,316 24,80017,50042,300
 December23,17015,61538,785 24,60017,20041,800
         
2016January23,72716,02439,751 24,10016,80040,900
 February23,66416,08439,748 23,80016,60040,400
 March22,74615,63038,376 23,10016,30039,400
 April21,99214,91436,906 22,60015,90038,500
 May22,17215,49037,662 22,00015,60037,700
 June22,75416,76539,519 21,50015,40036,900
 July22,60617,23739,843 21,00015,10036,100
 August22,34717,13439,481 20,60014,90035,500
 September19,99814,51734,515 20,00014,10034,100
 October18,80613,40232,208 19,70014,10033,800
 November18,06012,75230,812 19,30013,90033,300
 December17,89012,39530,285 19,00013,70032,700
         
2017January18,46012,93631,396 18,70013,60032,300
 February18,39813,07831,476 18,40013,50031,900
¹ Table contains revised figures
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 2(b) (XLS 41KB)
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Table 2(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
  Unadjusted Series Seasonally Adjusted Series¹
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
         
2015February186,957119,427306,384 185,200121,100306,400
 March183,892117,490301,382 183,200119,200302,400
 April180,850116,596297,446 181,700120,000301,700
 May180,790117,514298,304 179,900119,900299,800
 June182,477124,284306,761 178,700119,700298,400
 July181,356131,699313,055 176,900120,300297,200
 August179,747129,249308,996 175,600119,600295,200
 September171,087116,283287,370 174,000118,800292,800
 October165,494114,005279,499 171,200118,400289,700
 November164,814112,201277,015 170,300117,300287,600
 December167,486114,375281,861 169,000116,600285,600
         
2016January167,904113,858281,762 166,600115,900282,500
 February166,456113,245279,701 164,800115,100279,900
 March163,475113,513276,988 162,600114,600277,200
 April159,394109,240268,634 160,400113,400273,800
 May159,060110,100269,160 158,300112,500270,800
 June159,226116,909276,135 156,000112,200268,200
 July157,808121,344279,152 154,000109,900263,900
 August156,168120,369276,537 152,500110,500263,000
 September146,524105,064251,588 149,100107,800256,800
 October142,501102,100244,601 147,500106,500254,100
 November140,936101,412242,348 145,700106,600252,200
 December142,698103,519246,217 143,900105,700249,600
         
2017January142,905102,591245,496 141,800104,700246,500
 February141,350102,267243,617 139,900104,100244,000
¹ Table contains revised figures
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 2(c) (XLS 42KB)
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Table 3 Summary of flows on and off the Live Register¹
  Males Females All Claimants
  Live RegisterJoined Live RegisterStayed on Live RegisterLeft Live Register Live RegisterJoined Live RegisterStayed on Live RegisterLeft Live Register Live RegisterJoined Live RegisterStayed on Live RegisterLeft Live Register
JB Claims
2016February22,6734,11918,5543,522 22,7953,57219,2233,039 45,4687,69137,7776,561
 March21,8254,18817,6374,311 23,6265,05018,5763,558 45,4519,23836,2137,869
 April20,3483,48416,8644,399 20,6892,98817,7015,334 41,0376,47234,5659,733
 May19,6443,15916,4853,339 20,6913,34917,3422,801 40,3356,50833,8276,140
 June19,6024,30615,2963,725 25,1538,21416,9393,008 44,75512,52032,2356,733
 July19,6543,50316,1512,829 28,8707,08221,7882,715 48,52410,58537,9395,544
 August19,3512,99216,3592,699 28,2153,24524,9703,238 47,5666,23741,3295,937
 September17,4233,57113,8524,925 19,5923,66815,92411,622 37,0157,23929,77616,547
 October17,1423,27313,8692,982 18,9233,20015,7233,286 36,0656,47329,5926,268
 November17,4703,47413,9962,611 19,4843,58915,8952,491 36,9547,06329,8915,102
 December18,8734,22514,6482,261 21,5484,76016,7882,166 40,4218,98531,4364,427
                
2017January19,8314,36915,4623,009 21,4334,18017,2533,908 41,2648,54932,7156,917
 February19,8503,73816,1123,207 21,8134,31217,5013,386 41,6638,05033,6136,593
                
JA Applications              
2016February156,4107,460148,9509,364 85,4884,49280,9965,307 241,89811,952229,94614,671
 March153,4077,231146,17610,843 84,5134,54779,9666,027 237,92011,778226,14216,870
 April150,1986,384143,81410,079 82,7553,84078,9156,012 232,95310,224222,72916,091
 May150,8299,775141,0549,619 84,2136,21877,9955,154 235,04215,993219,04914,773
 June151,71911,952139,76711,616 87,5488,98978,5596,144 239,26720,941218,32617,760
 July150,1907,043143,1479,117 88,4145,63282,7825,234 238,60412,675225,92914,351
 August148,6666,473142,1938,512 87,9814,29483,6875,171 236,64710,767225,88013,683
 September138,8668,365130,50118,668 79,7985,48174,31714,148 218,66413,846204,81832,816
 October133,9847,214126,77012,584 76,5054,46172,0448,118 210,48911,675198,81420,702
 November131,3956,681124,7149,726 74,7263,95670,7706,093 206,12110,637195,48415,819
 December131,6197,047124,5727,311 74,3544,01470,3404,757 205,97311,061194,91212,068
                
2017January131,5216,781124,7407,282 74,2614,28569,9764,681 205,78211,066194,71611,963
 February129,9246,894123,0308,934 73,7534,40969,3445,324 203,67711,303192,37414,258
                
Other Registrants              
2016February11,03720710,830412 21,04639020,656660 32,08359731,4861,072
 March10,98925410,735416 21,00457920,425779 31,99383331,1601,195
 April10,84021310,627438 20,71050120,209972 31,55071430,8361,410
 May10,75920110,558334 20,68637220,314545 31,44557330,872879
 June10,65934210,317513 20,97388820,085853 31,6321,23030,4021,366
 July10,57026610,304434 21,29793020,367786 31,8671,19630,6711,220
 August10,49822110,277372 21,30740620,901616 31,80562731,178988
 September10,2332659,968604 20,19148519,7061,783 30,42475029,6742,387
 October10,1812489,933384 20,07440819,666744 30,25565629,5991,128
 November10,1312379,894374 19,95437819,576669 30,08561529,4701,043
 December10,0962609,836371 20,01251419,498612 30,10877429,334983
                
2017January10,0132059,808287 19,83337119,462634 29,84657629,270921
 February9,9742369,738346 19,77967919,100870 29,75391528,8381,216
                
All Schemes              
2016February190,12011,786178,33413,298 129,3298,454120,8759,006 319,44920,240299,20922,304
 March186,22111,673174,54815,570 129,14310,176118,96710,364 315,36421,849293,51525,934
 April181,38610,081171,30514,916 124,1547,329116,82512,318 305,54017,410288,13027,234
 May181,23213,135168,09713,292 125,5909,939115,6518,500 306,82223,074283,74821,792
 June181,98016,600165,38015,854 133,67418,091115,58310,005 315,65434,691280,96325,859
 July180,41410,812169,60212,380 138,58113,644124,9378,735 318,99524,456294,53921,115
 August178,5159,686168,82911,583 137,5037,945129,5589,025 316,01817,631298,38720,608
 September166,52212,201154,32124,197 119,5819,634109,94727,553 286,10321,835264,26851,750
 October161,30710,735150,57215,950 115,5028,069107,43312,148 276,80918,804258,00528,098
 November158,99610,392148,60412,711 114,1647,923106,2419,253 273,16018,315254,84521,964
 December160,58811,532149,0569,943 115,9149,288106,6267,535 276,50220,820255,68217,478
                
2017January161,36511,355150,01010,578 115,5278,836106,6919,223 276,89220,191256,70119,801
 February159,74810,868148,88012,487 115,3459,400105,9459,580 275,09320,268254,82522,067
                
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 3 (XLS 67KB)
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Table 4 Persons on the Live Register classified by region
NUTS2 and NUTS3 Regions¹February 2016January 2017February 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
        
Males       
      Border, Midland and Western59,12650,62049,975-645-9,1516,06443,911
      Border26,80022,89922,515-384-4,2852,79519,720
      Midland15,33412,85012,776-74-2,5581,65511,121
      West16,99214,87114,684-187-2,3081,61413,070
        
      Southern and Eastern130,994110,745109,773-972-21,22112,33497,439
      Dublin46,97140,22640,061-165-6,9104,37035,691
      Mid-East17,55714,51214,307-205-3,2501,67812,629
      Mid-West15,80813,52113,484-37-2,3241,66811,816
      South-East25,57121,47921,185-294-4,3862,53418,651
      South-West25,08721,00720,736-271-4,3512,08418,652
      Total190,120161,365159,748-1,617-30,37218,398141,350
        
Females       
      Border, Midland and Western41,54537,53537,638+103-3,9074,53033,108
      Border18,72416,73716,728-9-1,9962,06414,664
      Midland10,8429,7929,822+30-1,0201,3758,447
      West11,97911,00611,088+82-8911,0919,997
        
      Southern and Eastern87,78477,99277,707-285-10,0778,54869,159
      Dublin29,53526,50526,293-212-3,2422,75823,535
      Mid-East13,23111,33711,365+28-1,8661,18310,182
      Mid-West10,7759,5309,554+24-1,2211,2088,346
      South-East17,20215,47315,475+2-1,7271,96413,511
      South-West17,04115,14715,020-127-2,0211,43513,585
      Total129,329115,527115,345-182-13,98413,078102,267
        
All Persons       
      Border, Midland and Western100,67188,15587,613-542-13,05810,59477,019
      Border45,52439,63639,243-393-6,2814,85934,384
      Midland26,17622,64222,598-44-3,5783,03019,568
      West28,97125,87725,772-105-3,1992,70523,067
        
      Southern and Eastern218,778188,737187,480-1,257-31,29820,882166,598
      Dublin76,50666,73166,354-377-10,1527,12859,226
      Mid-East30,78825,84925,672-177-5,1162,86122,811
      Mid-West26,58323,05123,038-13-3,5452,87620,162
      South-East42,77336,95236,660-292-6,1134,49832,162
      South-West42,12836,15435,756-398-6,3723,51932,237
      Total319,449276,892275,093-1,799-44,35631,476243,617
¹ The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 4 (XLS 45KB)
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Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
 February 2016January 2017February 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Broad occupational group
        
Males       
Managers and administrators8,2357,4477,288-159-9471997,089
Professional8,0297,2947,126-168-9033466,780
Associate professional and technical 5,1724,7244,684-40-4884554,229
Clerical and secretarial8,2867,4007,515+115-7716796,836
Craft and related 54,60644,10743,690-417-10,9162,83640,854
Personal and protective service13,93212,06411,939-125-1,9931,17410,765
Sales12,92410,75410,868+114-2,0562,3968,472
Plant and machine operatives38,68232,59432,123-471-6,5593,47028,653
Other occupation28,88624,89724,544-353-4,3423,42221,122
No occupation¹11,36810,0849,971-113-1,3973,4216,550
Total 190,120161,365159,748-1,617-30,37218,398141,350
        
Females       
Managers and administrators6,1425,6465,517-129-6251205,397
Professional9,4038,7508,621-129-7823768,245
Associate professional and technical 3,9973,8463,810-36-1872403,570
Clerical and secretarial22,36720,52920,848+319-1,51986819,980
Craft and related 6,8976,5376,523-14-3747825,741
Personal and protective service28,05824,75724,622-135-3,4362,69221,930
Sales22,02318,44318,587+144-3,4362,77815,809
Plant and machine operatives13,37411,86011,799-61-1,5751,43610,363
Other occupation9,5048,3608,308-52-1,1961,6346,674
No occupation¹7,5646,7996,710-89-8542,1524,558
Total129,329115,527115,345-182-13,98413,078102,267
        
All Persons       
Managers and administrators14,37713,09312,805-288-1,57231912,486
Professional17,43216,04415,747-297-1,68572215,025
Associate professional and technical 9,1698,5708,494-76-6756957,799
Clerical and secretarial30,65327,92928,363+434-2,2901,54726,816
Craft and related 61,50350,64450,213-431-11,2903,61846,595
Personal and protective service41,99036,82136,561-260-5,4293,86632,695
Sales34,94729,19729,455+258-5,4925,17424,281
Plant and machine operatives52,05644,45443,922-532-8,1344,90639,016
Other occupation38,39033,25732,852-405-5,5385,05627,796
No occupation¹18,93216,88316,681-202-2,2515,57311,108
Total 319,449276,892275,093-1,799-44,35631,476243,617
        
¹ Includes those who never worked and those who have no stated occupation
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 5 (XLS 45KB)
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Table 6 Persons on the Live Register classified by duration of continuous registration
 February 2016January 2017February 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Duration
        
Males
   Less than one year98,91087,97087,760-210-11,15012,97874,782
   One year or more91,21073,39571,988-1,407-19,2225,42066,568
   Total190,120161,365159,748-1,617-30,37218,398141,350
       
Females       
   Less than one year77,15369,65970,285+626-6,8689,73060,555
   One year or more52,17645,86845,060-808-7,1163,34841,712
   Total129,329115,527115,345-182-13,98413,078102,267
       
All Persons       
   Less than one year176,063157,629158,045+416-18,01822,708135,337
   One year or more143,386119,263117,048-2,215-26,3388,768108,280
   Total319,449276,892275,093-1,799-44,35631,476243,617
        
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 6 (XLS 34KB)
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Table 7 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register
  MalesMonthly change FemalesMonthly change All PersonsMonthly change
        
2015February38,430-100 33,685+181 72,115+81
 March38,098-332 33,263-422 71,361-754
 April37,376-722 32,757-506 70,133-1,228
 May36,869-507 32,328-429 69,197-936
 June36,831-38 32,579+251 69,410+213
 July36,432-399 32,312-267 68,744-666
 August35,774-658 31,668-644 67,442-1,302
 September34,791-983 30,838-830 65,629-1,813
 October34,400-391 30,737-101 65,137-492
 November34,710+310 30,920+183 65,630+493
 December34,758+48 30,980+60 65,738+108
          
2016January34,447-311 30,767-213 65,214-524
 February34,810+363 31,119+352 65,929+715
 March34,402-408 31,025-94 65,427-502
 April33,809-593 30,527-498 64,336-1,091
 May33,549-260 30,269-258 63,818-518
 June33,490-59 30,222-47 63,712-106
 July32,949-541 29,763-459 62,712-1,000
 August32,159-790 29,187-576 61,346-1,366
 September31,263-896 28,322-865 59,585-1,761
 October31,100-163 28,288-34 59,388-197
 November31,108+8 28,535+247 59,643+255
 December31,156+48 28,752+217 59,908+265
          
2017January30,890-266 28,590-162 59,480-428
 February31,061+171 28,835+245 59,896+416
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 7 (XLS 41KB)
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Table 8 Persons on the Live Register classified by nationality grouping 
  Nationality grouping 
  Non-Irish nationals     
  United KingdomEU15 excl. IRL & UKEU15 to EU28 StatesOther  Non-Irish nationalsIrish nationalsAll Persons
          
2015February13,5273,58935,1238,700 60,939293,919354,858
 March13,3033,38134,4028,705 59,791288,606348,397
 April13,0423,29933,6248,663 58,628284,630343,258
 May13,0293,29033,0988,911 58,328287,003345,331
 June13,3383,37433,1559,414 59,281296,915356,196
 July13,4513,41532,6289,424 58,918304,395363,313
 August13,2533,39032,1799,427 58,249300,550358,799
 September12,3983,21230,6298,839 55,078277,392332,470
 October11,9843,14329,9198,275 53,321267,210320,531
 November11,8693,28530,1748,151 53,479262,852316,331
 December12,0543,37730,7128,128 54,271266,375320,646
         
2016January12,0793,42831,3478,005 54,859266,654321,513
 February12,0153,38531,5518,137 55,088264,361319,449
 March11,8673,25530,9807,983 54,085261,278315,363
 April11,5273,21730,0357,909 52,688252,852305,540
 May11,5563,21329,4708,259 52,498254,324306,822
 June11,8223,31929,3158,684 53,140262,514315,654
 July11,8553,31228,8378,706 52,710266,285318,995
 August11,7163,32928,2198,633 51,897264,121316,018
 September10,8163,07226,6477,769 48,304237,799286,103
 October10,5353,03726,1617,289 47,022229,787276,809
 November10,4873,14626,1637,150 46,946226,214273,160
 December10,6083,21326,8797,158 47,858228,644276,502
         
2017January10,6143,23427,5187,186 48,552228,340276,892
 February10,5243,21927,3697,218 48,330226,763275,093
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 Table 8 (XLS 43KB)
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Table 9 Live Register Compositional Analysis
 February 2014 February 2015 February 2016 February 2017
 Number% of total Number% of total Number% of total Number% of total
Sex           
Males247,20262.2 215,75760.8 190,12059.5 159,74858.1
Females150,52037.8 139,10139.2 129,32940.5 115,34541.9
Total397,722100.0 354,858100.0 319,449100.0 275,093100.0
            
Age           
Under 25 years60,16915.1 48,47413.7 39,74812.4 31,47611.4
25 years and over337,55384.9 306,38486.3 279,70187.6 243,61788.6
Total397,722100.0 354,858100.0 319,449100.0 275,093100.0
            
Scheme           
JB Claims60,56115.2 50,74514.3 45,46814.2 41,66315.1
JA Applications301,58475.8 269,45675.9 241,89875.7 203,67774.0
Other Registrants35,5778.9 34,6579.8 32,08310.0 29,75310.8
Total397,722100.0 354,858100.0 319,449100.0 275,093100.0
            
Duration of Continuous Registration           
Less than one year217,30654.6 192,15854.2 176,06355.1 158,04557.5
One year or more180,41645.4 162,70045.8 143,38644.9 117,04842.5
Total397,722100.0 354,858100.0 319,449100.0 275,093100.0
            
Nationality Grouping           
Irish Nationals328,12382.5 293,91982.8 264,36182.8 226,76382.4
Non-Irish Nationals69,59917.5 60,93917.2 55,08817.2 48,33017.6
Total397,722100.0 354,858100.0 319,449100.0 275,093100.0
            
NUTS2 Regions¹           
Border, Midland and Western124,10731.2 111,84231.5 100,67131.5 87,61331.8
Southern and Eastern273,61568.8 243,01668.5 218,77868.5 187,48068.2
Total397,722100.0 354,858100.0 319,449100.0 275,093100.0
            
Last Held Occupation           
Managers and administrators16,7714.2 15,5054.4 14,3774.5 12,8054.7
Professional21,7065.5 19,3155.4 17,4325.5 15,7475.7
Associate professional and technical11,2292.8 9,8682.8 9,1692.9 8,4943.1
Clerical and secretarial37,1719.3 33,3339.4 30,6539.6 28,36310.3
Craft and related 83,58421.0 70,87320.0 61,50319.3 50,21318.3
Personal and protective service50,29712.6 46,05913.0 41,99013.1 36,56113.3
Sales44,06211.1 38,85811.0 34,94710.9 29,45510.7
Plant and machine operatives66,37916.7 58,61616.5 52,05616.3 43,92216.0
Other occupation45,93511.5 42,56712.0 38,39012.0 32,85211.9
No Occupation²20,5885.2 19,8645.6 18,9325.9 16,6816.1
Total397,722100.0 354,858100.0 319,449100.0 275,093100.0
            
Casual Status           
No casual and part-time work316,60579.6 282,74379.7 253,52079.4 215,19778.2
Casual and part-time work81,11720.4 72,11520.3 65,92920.6 59,89621.8
Total397,722100.0 354,858100.0 319,449100.0 275,093100.0
            
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 February 2017 Table 9 (XLS 50KB)
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Annex Table A1 - Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes  
 January 2016December 2016January 2017
Back to Work Schemes  
Back to Work allowance scheme - Employee strand1000
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand11,79510,97710,845
Short-term Enterprise Allowance2 382409378
Total Back to Work payments 12,17711,38611,223
 
Other Activation Programmes
DSP Part-time Job Incentive405482483
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) 7,8807,2737,230
JobBridge (2011)34,3233,3901,630
Gateway (2013)42,311692560
Total Other Activation Programmes14,91911,8379,903
     
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors)522,70622,35622,356
 
FAS (Solas) Full Time Training for Unemployed People67,1656,8636,863
     
Back to Education Courses
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)7N/AN/AN/A
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)818,26314,38614,214
Total Back to Education Courses 23,26319,38619,214
     
Total Activation Programmes80,23071,82869,559
    
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 December 2016 as data unavailable at the time of publication. This scheme was closed to new
applications from 21 October 2016.
4 Gateway Scheme included from December 2013.
5 Figure as at December 2016 as data for January 2017 was unavailable at the time of publication.
6 Specific Skills Training/Local Training initiative/Traineeship/Return to Work. Figure as at December 2016 as data for January 2017 was
 unavailable at the time of publication.
7 VTOS figures are estimated at 5,000 per month.
8 BTEA figures include all schemes but participants from JA & JB are not entitled to BTEA during the summer holidays. Includes
 MOMENTUM participants from February 2013.
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2017 - Annex (XLS 36KB)
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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.

Prior to January 2017, the DSP provided tabulated claimant counts directly to the CSO to facilitate production of the Live Register. These claimant counts were grouped by age, gender, occupation, nationality, duration, region, county and local welfare office. Data provided in this fashion is available from 1967 to December 2016.

Beginning with January 2017, the Live Register will be produced using claimant microdata from the Department of Social Protection's (DSP) Integrated Short Term Scheme (ISTS) database. Claimants are determined to be on the Live Register if they fulfil the Live Register criteria and such persons will be summarised and cross-tabulated to produce the counts published in the Live Register release.

As claimant count microdata is retrospectively available to January 2012, previously published Live Register data for this period have been revised with data now also produced from this claimant microdata. These revisions are generally minor in nature and are included in this release as well as all relevant Statbank tables.

Reference Period

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

February 2017 – 29th January to 25th February 2017
February 2016 – 31st January to 27th February 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 are calculated by analysing persons on the Live Register in the reference week of the reference month compared to those on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month. The flows are calculated as follows:

Joined Live Register: Persons on the Live Register in the reference week of the current month who were not present on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month.

Stayed on Live Register: Persons on the Live Register in the reference week of the current month who were also present on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month.

Left Live Register: Persons not on the Live Register in the referenced week of the current month who were present on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month.

Inflows and outflows published in this release relate to persons moving on or off the Live Register. Inter-scheme movement is not counted as a Live Register flow. For example, if a claimant exhausts his/her entitlement to JB and opens a new JA claim, this is not counted as an outflow in JB and an inflow in JA. The person has moved scheme but has not joined nor left the Live Register. Thus, those persons who move schemes from one month to the next are counted as “Stayed on the Live Register”.

 

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 number of claimants on the Live Register who work on a casual and /or part-time basis is supplied by the Department of Social Protection. People who work for part of a week may be eligible for Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Allowance and may also be included on the Live Register, if the Department of Social Protection is satisfied that they are not in full-time employment, are available for work and are looking for full-time employment.  

 

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

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http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/lr/liveregisterfebruary2017/

Contact:

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Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

Tel:
(+353) 21 453 5000
E-Mail:
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