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

March 2018

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
March 2017267,202270,800
February 2018235,344235,300
March 2018232,366233,100
   
Change in month-- 2,200
Change in year- 34,836-

Seasonally adjusted Live Register total decreases by 2,200 in March

Live Register Seasonally Adjusted
go to full release

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 2,200 (-0.9%) in March 2018, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 233,100. The number of persons on the Live Register in March 2018 is also the lowest number recorded in the seasonally adjusted series since July 2008. See table 2(a).

In unadjusted terms there were 232,366 persons signing on the Live Register in March 2018. This represents an annual decrease of 34,836 (-13.0%). See table 1(a).

Other features include:

  • On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register showed a monthly decrease of 1,600 (-1.2%) males in March 2018, while females decreased by 700 (-0.7%) over the same period. See table 2(a).
  • The number of male claimants decreased by 23,135 (-14.9%) to 132,581 in the year to March 2018, while female claimants decreased by 11,701 (-10.5%) to 99,785. This compares with a decrease of 30,505 (-16.4%) to 155,716 for males, while female claimants decreased by 17,657 (-13.7%) to 111,486 in the year to March 2017. See table 1(a).

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 Labour Force Survey.

The Monthly Unemployment Rate (seasonally adjusted) is published in the Monthly Unemployment release.
0
DurationLess than one yearOne year or more
March 2016174427140937
April 2016167357138183
May 2016166397140425
June 2016171883143771
July 2016177093141902
August 2016175760140258
September 2016155532130571
October 2016151993124816
November 2016151452121708
December 2016156651119851
January 2017157629119263
February 2017158045117048
March 2017153245113957
April 2017151610111807
May 2017148930113772
June 2017153521115205
July 2017160457113928
August 2017152457111799
September 2017138980105339
October 2017134902101590
November 201713430498905
December 201713835097918
January 201813937998007
February 201813877096574
March 201813763394733

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in March 2018 was 94,733. The number of male long term claimants decreased by 13,056 (-18.7%) in the year to March 2018, while females decreased by 6,168 (-14.0%), giving an overall annual decrease of 19,224 (-16.9%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and figure 2.

In March 2018, 59.2% (137,633) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for March 2017 was 57.4% (153,245). The annual fall of 15,612 (-10.2%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 10,079 (-11.8%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 5,533 (-8.2%) in female short term claimants. See table 6.

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 49,466 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in March 2018, which represents 21.3% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 22.2% one year earlier when there were 59,260 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register.  In the year to March 2018 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 9,794 (-16.5%), with the number of males decreasing by 5,732 (-18.7%) and the number of females decreasing by 4,062 (-14.2%). See table 7.

Under 25 years25 years and over
March 201638376276988
March 201730849236353
March 201825038207328

Live Register age groups

In the year to March 2018 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 29,025 (-12.3%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 5,811 (-18.8%).  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 10.8% for March 2018, down from 11.5% in March 2017 and 12.2% in March 2016. See tables 1(b) and 1(c) and figure 3.

Live Register new registrants

There were 18,668 new registrants on the Live Register in March 2018, consisting of 9,317 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) claims, 8,728 Jobseekers Benefit (JB) claims and 623 “Other Registrants”. Males accounted for 52.1% (9,731) and females 47.9% (8,937) of all new registrants. JA claims represented 49.9% of all new registrations, while JB claims and “Other Registrants” represented 46.8% and 3.3% respectively.  See table 3.

Live Register last occupation held

Craft and related (17.5%) remained the largest occupational group1 on the Live Register in March, despite the fact that the number in the group fell over the year by 8,574 (-17.4%) to 40,725. The Sales group was the largest annual percentage decrease (-17.5%).

The two smallest occupational groups in March were the Associate professional and technical and the Managers and administrators groups which accounted for 3.1% and 4.9% of the Live Register respectively. See table 5 and figure 4.

 

Broad Occupational GroupMarch 2016March 2017March 2018
1139731248211372
2175601499813760
3894983177253
4319072694426070
5602554929940725
6410983519730916
7342862893123868
8510614268036187
9375533197428291
10187221638013924
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 33,971 (-17.0%) brought the total number of JA claimants to 165,409 in March 2018, while JB claimants increased to 39,841 (+3.4%) over the same period.  As a result JA claimants account for 71.2% of all persons on the Live Register in March 2018 compared with 74.6% 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 Midland region (-15.3%) followed by the Dublin region (-13.8%). See table 4.
  • In March, Irish nationals accounted for 82.2% (191,110) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 41,256 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU28 States (22,706), followed by the UK (9,007). See table 8.

Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of February 2018 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 59,747 people availing of these programmes in February 2018, which is a decrease of 8,202 persons (-12.1%) from the previous year, when there were 67,949 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
CategoryMarch 2017February 2018March 2018Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims18,64619,20018,868-332+222
    JA Applications127,256107,136104,826-2,310-22,430
    Other Registrants9,8148,9978,887-110-927
    Total155,716135,333132,581-2,752-23,135
 
Females
    JB Claims19,88820,27820,973+695+1,085
    JA Applications72,12461,41960,583-836-11,541
    Other Registrants19,47418,31418,229-85-1,245
    Total111,486100,01199,785-226-11,701
 
All Persons
    JB Claims38,53439,47839,841+363+1,307
    JA Applications199,380168,555165,409-3,146-33,971
    Other Registrants29,28827,31127,116-195-2,172
    Total267,202235,344232,366-2,978-34,836
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 1(a) (XLS 35KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategoryMarch 2017February 2018March 2018Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims1,1361,2361,231-5+95
    JA Applications16,87813,83213,488-344-3,390
    Other Registrants967587+12-9
    Total18,11015,14314,806-337-3,304
 
Females
    JB Claims1,0271,0781,013-65-14
    JA Applications11,6289,3399,136-203-2,492
    Other Registrants848783-4-1
    Total12,73910,50410,232-272-2,507
 
All Persons
    JB Claims2,1632,3142,244-70+81
    JA Applications28,50623,17122,624-547-5,882
    Other Registrants180162170+8-10
    Total30,84925,64725,038-609-5,811
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 1(b) (XLS 34KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategoryMarch 2017February 2018March 2018Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims17,51017,96417,637-327+127
    JA Applications110,37893,30491,338-1,966-19,040
    Other Registrants9,7188,9228,800-122-918
    Total137,606120,190117,775-2,415-19,831
 
Females
    JB Claims18,86119,20019,960+760+1,099
    JA Applications60,49652,08051,447-633-9,049
    Other Registrants19,39018,22718,146-81-1,244
    Total98,74789,50789,553+46-9,194
 
All Persons
    JB Claims36,37137,16437,597+433+1,226
    JA Applications170,874145,384142,785-2,599-28,089
    Other Registrants29,10827,14926,946-203-2,162
    Total236,353209,697207,328-2,369-29,025
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 1(c) (XLS 34KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
 Unadjusted SeriesSeasonally Adjusted Series¹
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
2016March186,221129,143315,364185,700130,800316,500
 April181,386124,154305,540182,900129,200312,100
 May181,232125,590306,822180,100128,000308,200
 June181,980133,674315,654177,400127,900305,300
 July180,414138,581318,995174,800124,900299,800
 August178,515137,503316,018172,700125,500298,200
 September166,522119,581286,103169,600122,200291,800
 October161,307115,502276,809167,900121,000288,900
 November158,996114,164273,160165,500120,400286,000
 December160,588115,914276,502163,000119,200282,200
     
2017January161,365115,527276,892160,200118,000278,200
 February159,748115,345275,093158,000117,200275,200
 March155,716111,486267,202155,700115,100270,800
 April152,653110,764263,417153,500113,500267,000
 May152,460110,242262,702151,400112,600264,000
 June152,665116,061268,726148,600110,600259,200
 July151,513122,872274,385146,500109,600256,200
 August148,265115,991264,256143,000104,300247,300
 September140,120104,199244,319143,100107,100250,200
 October135,968100,524236,492142,100106,100248,200
 November133,95999,250233,209139,900105,100245,000
 December135,329100,939236,268137,400104,000241,400
     
2018January136,735100,651237,386135,600103,000238,500
 February135,333100,011235,344133,600101,700235,300
 March132,58199,785232,366 132,000101,000233,100
¹ Table contains revised figures
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 2(a) (XLS 41KB)
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
2016March22,74615,63038,37623,00016,20039,200
 April21,99214,91436,90622,50015,90038,400
 May22,17215,49037,66222,00015,60037,600
 June22,75416,76539,51921,50015,40036,900
 July22,60617,23739,84321,10015,10036,200
 August22,34717,13439,48120,70015,00035,600
 September19,99814,51734,51519,90014,20034,100
 October18,80613,40232,20819,70014,10033,900
 November18,06012,75230,81219,40014,00033,400
 December17,89012,39530,28519,00013,70032,700
 
2017January18,46012,93631,39618,70013,60032,300
 February18,39813,07831,47618,40013,40031,800
 March18,11012,73930,84918,30013,30031,600
 April17,34012,38529,72517,70013,00030,700
 May17,59612,65730,25317,40012,70030,200
 June18,02313,70931,73217,10012,50029,600
 July17,94914,28832,23716,80012,50029,200
 August17,87013,81331,68316,50012,10028,600
 September16,43612,03528,47116,40011,80028,200
 October15,40411,02926,43316,10011,70027,800
 November14,61510,33624,95115,70011,30027,100
 December14,51110,16424,67515,50011,20026,700
 
2018January15,14910,47525,62415,30011,00026,300
 February15,14310,50425,64715,10010,80025,900
 March14,80610,23225,038 14,90010,50025,400
¹ Table contains revised figures
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 2(b) (XLS 40KB)
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
2016March163,475113,513276,988 162,700114,500277,300
 April159,394109,240268,634 160,400113,400273,800
 May159,060110,100269,160 158,100112,400270,600
 June159,226116,909276,135 155,800112,500268,400
 July157,808121,344279,152 153,800109,800263,600
 August156,168120,369276,537 152,100110,600262,600
 September146,524105,064251,588 149,600108,000257,700
 October142,501102,100244,601 148,100106,900255,000
 November140,936101,412242,348 146,100106,500252,600
 December142,698103,519246,217 144,000105,600249,500
 
2017January142,905102,591245,496 141,500104,400245,900
 February141,350102,267243,617 139,600103,700243,400
 March137,60698,747236,353 137,400101,800239,300
 April135,31398,379233,692 135,700100,500236,200
 May134,86497,585232,449 133,90099,900233,800
 June134,642102,352236,994 131,50098,000229,600
 July133,564108,584242,148 129,70097,200226,900
 August130,395102,178232,573 126,50092,200218,700
 September123,68492,164215,848 126,80095,300222,000
 October120,56489,495210,059 126,00094,400220,400
 November119,34488,914208,258 124,20093,800218,000
 December120,81890,775211,593 121,90092,800214,700
 
2018January121,58690,176211,762 120,20091,900212,200
 February120,19089,507209,697 118,50090,900209,400
 March117,77589,553207,328 117,20090,500207,600
¹ Table contains revised figures
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 2(c) (XLS 41KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 3 Summary of flows on and off the Live Register
  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
2017March18,6463,64415,0024,173 19,8883,15016,7384,426 38,5346,79431,7408,599
 April18,1243,27314,8513,213 20,1943,79316,4012,906 38,3187,06631,2526,119
 May17,4593,15114,3083,349 18,9782,90316,0753,621 36,4376,05430,3836,970
 June17,6484,05813,5903,358 22,3266,97915,3472,936 39,97411,03728,9376,294
 July18,1903,77414,4162,688 27,8328,32019,5122,270 46,02212,09433,9284,958
 August17,3453,40213,9433,675 23,4413,88219,5597,644 40,7867,28433,50211,319
 September16,1572,98913,1683,752 18,2623,03315,2297,776 34,4196,02228,39711,528
 October16,0283,22512,8032,898 17,6093,07914,5303,182 33,6376,30427,3336,080
 November16,6554,24712,4083,079 18,1694,07414,0952,951 34,8248,32126,5036,030
 December17,9463,37814,5681,629 19,8873,82216,0651,677 37,8337,20030,6333,306
 
2018January19,2904,54014,7502,845 20,0624,24215,8203,858 39,3528,78230,5706,703
 February19,2003,77615,4243,404 20,2783,51216,7662,904 39,4787,28832,1906,308
 March18,8683,97314,8953,736 20,9734,75516,2183,519 39,8418,72831,1137,255
JA Applications
2017March127,2566,871120,38510,106 72,1244,08568,0396,195 199,38010,956188,42416,301
 April124,4005,362119,0388,715 71,0343,41667,6184,907 195,4348,778186,65613,622
 May124,9928,975116,0178,777 71,8655,67066,1955,215 196,85714,645182,21213,992
 June125,38610,294115,09210,312 74,1417,58066,5615,775 199,52717,874181,65316,087
 July123,6826,133117,5498,292 74,9205,19269,7284,776 198,60211,325187,27713,068
 August121,4027,056114,3469,843 72,9534,61668,3376,998 194,35511,672182,68316,841
 September114,6716,295108,37613,403 67,0424,11062,93210,332 181,71310,405171,30823,735
 October110,7446,184104,56010,497 64,1803,86660,3147,109 174,92410,050164,87417,606
 November108,1637,162101,00110,208 62,4854,29958,1866,382 170,64811,461159,18716,590
 December108,2734,584103,6894,886 62,4532,87759,5763,216 170,7267,461163,2658,102
 
2018January108,4585,919102,5396,107 62,1763,72558,4514,184 170,6349,644160,99010,291
 February107,1365,946101,1907,660 61,4193,55157,8684,588 168,5559,497159,05812,248
 March104,8265,56899,2588,370 60,5833,74956,8344,972 165,4099,317156,09213,342
Other Registrants
2017March9,8141989,616464 19,47432919,145804 29,28852728,7611,268
 April10,1295789,551347 19,53657418,962693 29,6651,15228,5131,040
 May10,0092199,790409 19,39932419,075586 29,40854328,865995
 June9,6312399,392717 19,59470218,892730 29,22594128,2841,447
 July9,6412489,393329 20,12086019,260513 29,7611,10828,653842
 August9,5182269,292413 19,59750719,0901,245 29,11573328,3821,658
 September9,2922039,089482 18,89538118,5141,203 28,18758427,6031,685
 October9,1962238,973386 18,73538518,350717 27,93160827,3231,103
 November9,1412788,863408 18,59642618,170741 27,73770427,0331,149
 December9,1102158,895292 18,59941718,182534 27,70963227,077826
 
2018January8,9872278,760330 18,41343917,974650 27,40066626,734980
 February8,9972158,782277 18,31435917,955568 27,31157426,737845
 March8,8871908,697375 18,22943317,796674 27,11662326,4931,049
All Schemes
2017March155,71610,713145,00314,743 111,4867,564103,92211,425 267,20218,277248,92526,168
 April152,6539,213143,44012,275 110,7647,783102,9818,506 263,41716,996246,42120,781
 May152,46012,345140,11512,535 110,2428,897101,3459,422 262,70221,242241,46021,957
 June152,66514,591138,07414,387 116,06115,261100,8009,441 268,72629,852238,87423,828
 July151,51310,155141,35811,309 122,87214,372108,5007,559 274,38524,527249,85818,868
 August148,26510,684137,58113,931 115,9919,005106,98615,887 264,25619,689244,56729,818
 September140,1209,487130,63317,637 104,1997,52496,67519,311 244,31917,011227,30836,948
 October135,9689,632126,33613,781 100,5247,33093,19411,008 236,49216,962219,53024,789
 November133,95911,687122,27213,695 99,2508,79990,45110,074 233,20920,486212,72323,769
 December135,3298,177127,1526,807 100,9397,11693,8235,427 236,26815,293220,97512,234
 
2018January136,73510,686126,0499,282 100,6518,40692,2458,692 237,38619,092218,29417,974
 February135,3339,937125,39611,341 100,0117,42292,5898,060 235,34417,359217,98519,401
 March132,5819,731122,85012,481 99,7858,93790,8489,165 232,36618,668213,69821,646
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 3 (XLS 67KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 4 Persons on the Live Register classified by region
NUTS2 and NUTS3 Regions¹March 2017February 2018March 2018Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
      Border, Midland and Western48,72642,27441,513-761-7,2134,69836,815
      Border21,91718,88418,622-262-3,2952,22416,398
      Midland12,43310,58510,367-218-2,0661,2789,089
      West14,37612,80512,524-281-1,8521,19611,328
 
      Southern and Eastern106,99092,99691,004-1,992-15,98610,09480,910
      Dublin39,60334,37033,699-671-5,9043,68830,011
      Mid-East13,94812,05011,862-188-2,0861,34010,522
      Mid-West13,06611,32711,088-239-1,9781,3359,753
      South-East20,54918,15717,811-346-2,7382,20815,603
      South-West19,82417,09216,544-548-3,2801,52315,021
      Total155,716135,333132,581-2,752-23,13514,806117,775
 
Females
      Border, Midland and Western36,41332,60532,705+100-3,7083,55629,149
      Border16,12714,44414,535+91-1,5921,69212,843
      Midland9,5358,2168,245+29-1,2901,0037,242
      West10,7519,9459,925-20-8268619,064
 
      Southern and Eastern75,07367,33567,030-305-8,0436,66660,364
      Dublin25,76422,91422,668-246-3,0962,14020,528
      Mid-East11,1209,8739,995+122-1,1259249,071
      Mid-West9,1398,1738,206+33-9339297,277
      South-East14,85713,32313,266-57-1,5911,55211,714
      South-West14,19313,05212,895-157-1,2981,12111,774
      Total111,486100,01199,785-226-11,70110,23289,553
 
All Persons
      Border, Midland and Western85,13974,87974,218-661-10,9218,25465,964
      Border38,04433,32833,157-171-4,8873,91629,241
      Midland21,96818,80118,612-189-3,3562,28116,331
      West25,12722,75022,449-301-2,6782,05720,392
 
      Southern and Eastern182,063160,331158,034-2,297-24,02916,760141,274
      Dublin65,36757,28456,367-917-9,0005,82850,539
      Mid-East25,06821,92321,857-66-3,2112,26419,593
      Mid-West22,20519,50019,294-206-2,9112,26417,030
      South-East35,40631,48031,077-403-4,3293,76027,317
      South-West34,01730,14429,439-705-4,5782,64426,795
      Total2267,202235,344232,366-2,978-34,83625,038207,328
¹ The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes
2 From January 2018, registrations which have yet not being assigned to a DEASP local office of registration are included in the Live Register Totals. These registrations are not included in individual NUTS3/ NUTS2 totals in this table
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 4 (XLS 43KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
Broad occupational groupMarch 2017February 2018March 2018Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
Managers and administrators7,0806,4866,326-160-7541316,195
Professional6,9026,1556,029-126-8732555,774
Associate professional and technical 4,5894,1804,015-165-5743023,713
Clerical and secretarial7,2746,5926,738+146-5366096,129
Craft and related 42,83235,79234,930-862-7,9022,54832,382
Personal and protective service11,55110,50110,152-349-1,3991,0039,149
Sales10,7148,8328,701-131-2,0131,9116,790
Plant and machine operatives31,13526,89526,383-512-4,7522,86523,518
Other occupation23,84021,42520,986-439-2,8542,69518,291
No occupation¹9,7998,4758,321-154-1,4782,4875,834
Total 155,716135,333132,581-2,752-23,13514,806117,775
 
Females
Managers and administrators5,4025,1475,046-101-356754,971
Professional8,0967,5857,731+146-3652757,456
Associate professional and technical 3,7283,3693,238-131-4901713,067
Clerical and secretarial19,67018,14819,332+1,184-33871718,615
Craft and related 6,4675,9335,795-138-6726775,118
Personal and protective service23,64621,25020,764-486-2,8822,16218,602
Sales18,21715,50115,167-334-3,0502,21312,954
Plant and machine operatives11,5459,9279,804-123-1,7411,0978,707
Other occupation8,1347,4327,305-127-8291,2856,020
No occupation¹6,5815,7195,603-116-9781,5604,043
Total111,486100,01199,785-226-11,70110,23289,553
 
All Persons
Managers and administrators12,48211,63311,372-261-1,11020611,166
Professional14,99813,74013,760+20-1,23853013,230
Associate professional and technical 8,3177,5497,253-296-1,0644736,780
Clerical and secretarial26,94424,74026,070+1,330-8741,32624,744
Craft and related 49,29941,72540,725-1,000-8,5743,22537,500
Personal and protective service35,19731,75130,916-835-4,2813,16527,751
Sales28,93124,33323,868-465-5,0634,12419,744
Plant and machine operatives42,68036,82236,187-635-6,4933,96232,225
Other occupation31,97428,85728,291-566-3,6833,98024,311
No occupation¹16,38014,19413,924-270-2,4564,0479,877
Total 267,202235,344232,366-2,978-34,83625,038207,328
¹ Includes those who never worked and those who have no stated occupation
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 5 (XLS 44KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 6 Persons on the Live Register classified by duration of continuous registration
DurationMarch 2017February 2018March 2018Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
   Less than one year85,75577,20875,676-1,532-10,07910,87464,802
   One year or more69,96158,12556,905-1,220-13,0563,93252,973
   Total155,716135,333132,581-2,752-23,13514,806117,775
 
Females
   Less than one year67,49061,56261,957+395-5,5337,67154,286
   One year or more43,99638,44937,828-621-6,1682,56135,267
   Total111,486100,01199,785-226-11,70110,23289,553
 
All Persons
   Less than one year153,245138,770137,633-1,137-15,61218,545119,088
   One year or more113,95796,57494,733-1,841-19,2246,49388,240
   Total267,202235,344232,366-2,978-34,83625,038207,328
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 6 (XLS 34KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 7 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register
  MalesMonthly change FemalesMonthly change All PersonsMonthly change
2016March34,402-408 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
 March30,641-420 28,619-216 59,260-636
 April29,949-692 28,147-472 58,096-1,164
 May29,417-532 27,549-598 56,966-1,130
 June29,092-325 27,245-304 56,337-629
 July28,426-666 26,821-424 55,247-1,090
 August27,552-874 26,091-730 53,643-1,604
 September26,671-881 25,321-770 51,992-1,651
 October26,225-446 25,065-256 51,290-702
 November26,190-35 25,154+89 51,344+54
 December26,120-70 25,039-115 51,159-185
 
2018January25,555-565 24,676-363 50,231-928
 February25,459-96 24,858+182 50,317+86
 March24,909-550 24,557-301 49,466-851
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 7 (XLS 41KB)
upArrowHide Table
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
2016March11,8673,25530,9807,983 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
 March10,2293,06526,4877,197 46,978220,224267,202
 April10,0542,92325,7937,140 45,910217,507263,417
 May10,0552,88925,1847,447 45,575217,127262,702
 June10,2592,94124,9217,899 46,020222,706268,726
 July10,3342,99224,7427,971 46,039228,346274,385
 August10,0492,95023,8587,822 44,679219,577264,256
 September9,3332,75922,6167,222 41,930202,389244,319
 October9,1002,73022,2626,850 40,942195,550236,492
 November9,0002,85822,3276,685 40,870192,339233,209
 December9,1182,85622,6796,671 41,324194,944236,268
 
2018January9,2202,98723,3096,693 42,209195,177237,386
 February9,1242,93023,1676,787 42,008193,336235,344
 March9,0072,78222,7066,761 41,256191,110232,366
Open in Excel: Live Register March 2018 Table 8 (XLS 43KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 9 Live Register Compositional Analysis
 March 2015 March 2016 March 2017 March 2018
 Number% of total Number% of total Number% of total Number% of total
Sex
Males211,89260.8 186,22159.0 155,71658.3 132,58157.1
Females136,50539.2 129,14341.0 111,48641.7 99,78542.9
Total348,397100.0 315,364100.0 267,202100.0 232,366100.0
 
Age
Under 25 years47,01513.5 38,37612.2 30,84911.5 25,03810.8
25 years and over301,38286.5 276,98887.8 236,35388.5 207,32889.2
Total348,397100.0 315,364100.0 267,202100.0 232,366100.0
 
Scheme
JB Claims48,45213.9 45,45114.4 38,53414.4 39,84117.1
JA Applications265,59876.2 237,92075.4 199,38074.6 165,40971.2
Other Registrants34,3479.9 31,99310.1 29,28811.0 27,11611.7
Total348,397100.0 315,364100.0 267,202100.0 232,366100.0
 
Duration of Continuous Registration
Less than one year188,07054.0 174,42755.3 153,24557.4 137,63359.2
One year or more160,32746.0 140,93744.7 113,95742.6 94,73340.8
Total348,397100.0 315,364100.0 267,202100.0 232,366100.0
 
Nationality Grouping
Irish Nationals288,60682.8 261,27882.8 220,22482.4 191,11082.2
Non-Irish Nationals59,79117.2 54,08517.2 46,97817.6 41,25617.8
Total348,397100.0 315,363100.0 267,202100.0 232,366100.0
 
NUTS2 Regions¹
Border, Midland and Western109,80131.5 99,75731.6 85,13931.9 74,21832.0
Southern and Eastern238,59668.5 215,60768.4 182,06368.1 158,03468.0
Total348,397100.0 315,364100.0 267,202100.0 232,252100.0
 
Last Held Occupation
Managers and administrators15,3424.4 13,9734.4 12,4824.7 11,3724.9
Professional18,7835.4 17,5605.6 14,9985.6 13,7605.9
Associate professional and technical9,5942.8 8,9492.8 8,3173.1 7,2533.1
Clerical and secretarial32,4839.3 31,90710.1 26,94410.1 26,07011.2
Craft and related 69,71820.0 60,25519.1 49,29918.5 40,72517.5
Personal and protective service44,77712.9 41,09813.0 35,19713.2 30,91613.3
Sales38,39111.0 34,28610.9 28,93110.8 23,86810.3
Plant and machine operatives57,58416.5 51,06116.2 42,68016.0 36,18715.6
Other occupation41,99412.1 37,55311.9 31,97412.0 28,29112.2
No Occupation²19,7315.7 18,7225.9 16,3806.1 13,9246.0
Total348,397100.0 315,364100.0 267,202100.0 232,366100.0
 
Casual Status
No casual and part-time work277,03679.5 249,93779.3 207,94277.8 182,90078.7
Casual and part-time work71,36120.5 65,42720.7 59,26022.2 49,46621.3
Total348,397100.0 315,364100.0 267,202100.0 232,366100.0
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 March 2018 Table 9 (XLS 49KB)
upArrowHide Table
Annex Table A1 - Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes
 February 2017January 2018February 2018
Back to Work Schemes
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand10,7819,4269,188
Short-term Enterprise Allowance1 383329344
Total Back to Work payments 11,1649,7559,532
 
Other Activation Programmes
DSP Part-time Job Incentive470412414
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) 7,1386,3546,347
JobBridge (2011)21,31500
Gateway (2013)34844538
Total Other Activation Programmes9,4076,8116,799
     
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors)422,17421,74521,717
 
FAS (Solas) Full Time Training for Unemployed People56,4725,9955,995
     
Back to Education Courses
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)6N/AN/AN/A
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)713,73211,19710,704
Total Back to Education Courses 18,73216,19715,704
     
Total Activation Programmes67,94960,50359,747
1 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.
2 This scheme was closed to new applications from 21 October 2016.
3 Gateway Scheme included from December 2013.
4 January 2018 figure revised.   
5 January and February 2018 figures as at December 2017 as data unavailable.
6 VTOS figures are estimated at 5,000 per month.
7 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 March 2018 - 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 Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP).  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 DEASP 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 has been produced using claimant microdata from the DEASP 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 are summarised and cross-tabulated to produce the counts published in the Live Register release.

As claimant count microdata was retrospectively available to January 2012, previously published Live Register data for this period were revised with data produced from the claimant microdata. These revisions were 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:

March 2018 – 25th Febuary to 31st March 2018

March 2017 – 26th  February to 1st April 2017

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 Labour Force Survey (formerly the Quarterly National Household 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.

Labour Force Survey 

The Labour Force Survey (LFS), was launched in January 2018 with the publication of Quarter 3 2017 data (Q3 2017). The Labour Force survey replaced the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS).

The LFS provides quarterly estimates of the unemployment rate.

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 DEASP 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 DEASP 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. 

From January 2018, registrations which have yet not being assigned to a DEASP local office of registration are included in the Live Register totals. Therefore as these registrations are not included in the regional breakdowns, the sum of these regions may not add to the Live Register totals.

The latest available Live Register data by Province, County and Local Office of Registration are published on the CSO website, through the CSO StatBank, on 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 DEASP 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, to see these please 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 DEASP 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/liveregistermarch2018/

Contact:

Central Statistics Office
Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

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

Links:

Follow: