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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

May 2017

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
May 2016306,822308,600
April 2017263,417266,900
May 2017262,702264,700
   
Change in month-- 2,200
Change in year- 44,120-

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

Live Register seasonally adjusted
go to full release

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 2,200 (-0.8%) in May 2017, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 264,700. The number of persons on the Live Register in May 2017 is also the lowest number recorded in the seasonally adjusted series since October 2008. See table 2(a).

In unadjusted terms there were 262,702 persons signing on the Live Register in May 2017. This represents an annual decrease of 44,120 (-14.4%). See table 1(a).

Other features include:

  • On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register showed a monthly decrease of 1,500 (-1.0%) males in May 2017, while females decreased by 700 (-0.6%) over the same period. See table 2(a).
  • The number of male claimants decreased by 28,772 (-15.9%) to 152,460 in the year to May 2017, while female claimants decreased by 15,348 (-12.2%) to 110,242.  This compares with a decrease of 27,286 (-13.1%) to 181,232 for males, while female claimants decreased by 11,223 (-8.2%) to 125,590 in the year to May 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The Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) has been discontinued and has been replaced by the Monthly Unemployment release which is available here.

From January 2017, the Live Register monthly release has been produced using claimant microdata from the Department of Social Protection's (DSP) Integrated Short Term Scheme (ISTS) database.  Prior to January 2017, the Live Register was produced from tabulated claimant counts provided directly to the CSO by the DSP. The new approach continues to support the production of current Live Register data, while it also facilitates additional future analyses being undertaken by CSO.

As claimant count microdata was retrospectively available from January 2012, previously published Live Register data for this period were revised with data produced from the claimant count microdata. The revisions were generally minor in nature and are included in this release as well as all relevant StatBank tables.

From the April 2017, the latest available Live Register data by County and Local Office of Registration will be published on the CSO website, through the CSO StatBank, on the publication of the Live Register release. Previously this information was published one day after the publication of the Live Register release, see link below. 

The Live Register County and Local Office of Registration data are 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
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
March 2017153245113957
April 2017151610111807
May 2017148930113772

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in May 2017 was 113,772. The number of male long term claimants decreased by 19,083 (-21.5%) in the year to May 2017, while females decreased by 7,570 (-14.6%), giving an overall annual decrease of 26,653 (-19.0%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and figure 2.

In May 2017, 56.7% (148,930) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for May 2016 was 54.2% (166,397). The annual fall of 17,467 (-10.5%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 9,689 (-10.5%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 7,778 (-10.5%) in female short term claimants. See table 6.

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 56,966 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in May 2017, which represents 21.7% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 20.8% one year earlier when there were 63,818 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register.  In the year to May 2017 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 6,852 (-10.7%), with the number of males decreasing by 4,132 (-12.3%) and the number of females decreasing by 2,720 (-9.0%). See table 7.

Under 25 years25 years and over
May 201547027298304
May 201637662269160
May 201730253232449

Live Register age groups

In the year to May 2017 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 36,711 (-13.6%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 7,409 (-19.7%).  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 11.5% for May 2017, down from 12.3% in May 2016 and 13.6% in May 2015. See tables 1(b) and 1(c) and figure 3.

Live Register new registrants

There were 21,242 new registrants on the Live Register in May 2017, consisting of 14,645 Jobseekers Allowance (JA) claims, 6,054 Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) claims and 543 “Other Registrants”. Males accounted for 58.1% (12,345) and females 41.9% (8,897) of all new registrants. JA claims represented 68.9% of all new registrations, while JB claims and “Other Registrants” represented 28.5% and 2.6% respectively.  See table 3.

Live Register last occupation held

Craft and related (18.1%) remained the largest occupational group1 on the Live Register in May, despite the fact that the number in the group fell over the year by 10,407 (-18.0%) to 47,468.  The second largest annual percentage decrease was in the Sales group, which decreased by 15.6%.

The two smallest occupational groups in May were the Associate professional and technical and the Managers and administrators groups which accounted for 3.2% 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 GroupMay 2015May 2016May 2017
1152781382412299
2192491720915100
3967090838395
4328932994126961
5677855787547468
6432503931933791
7383073421728872
8564864934041699
9419943703431642
10204191898016475
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

  • An annual decrease of 38,185 (-16.2%) brought the total number of JA claimants to 196,857 in May 2017, while JB claimants decreased to 36,437 (-9.7%) over the same period.  As a result JA claimants account for 74.9% of all persons on the Live Register in May 2017 compared with 76.6% 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 Mid-East region (-16.5%) followed by the South-West region (-16.2%). See table 4.
  • In May, Irish nationals accounted for 82.7% (217,127) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 45,575 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU28 States (25,184), followed by the UK (10,055). See table 8.

Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of April 2017 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 66,759 people availing of these programmes in April 2017, which is a decrease of 11,357 persons (-14.5%) from the previous year, when there were 78,116 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
CategoryMay 2016April 2017May 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims19,64418,12417,459-665-2,185
    JA Applications150,829124,400124,992+592-25,837
    Other Registrants10,75910,12910,009-120-750
    Total181,232152,653152,460-193-28,772
 
Females
    JB Claims20,69120,19418,978-1,216-1,713
    JA Applications84,21371,03471,865+831-12,348
    Other Registrants20,68619,53619,399-137-1,287
    Total125,590110,764110,242-522-15,348
 
All Persons
    JB Claims40,33538,31836,437-1,881-3,898
    JA Applications235,042195,434196,857+1,423-38,185
    Other Registrants31,44529,66529,408-257-2,037
    Total306,822263,417262,702-715-44,120
Open in Excel: Live Register May 2017 Table 1(a) (XLS 35KB)
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Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategoryMay 2016April 2017May 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims1,1891,0911,053-38-136
    JA Applications20,89016,16516,457+292-4,433
    Other Registrants938486+2-7
    Total22,17217,34017,596+256-4,576
 
Females
    JB Claims1,0961,050971-79-125
    JA Applications14,28411,25911,614+355-2,670
    Other Registrants1107672-4-38
    Total15,49012,38512,657+272-2,833
 
All Persons
    JB Claims2,2852,1412,024-117-261
    JA Applications35,17427,42428,071+647-7,103
    Other Registrants203160158-2-45
    Total37,66229,72530,253+528-7,409
Open in Excel: Live Register May 2017 Table 1(b) (XLS 34KB)
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Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategoryMay 2016April 2017May 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims18,45517,03316,406-627-2,049
    JA Applications129,939108,235108,535+300-21,404
    Other Registrants10,66610,0459,923-122-743
    Total159,060135,313134,864-449-24,196
 
Females
    JB Claims19,59519,14418,007-1,137-1,588
    JA Applications69,92959,77560,251+476-9,678
    Other Registrants20,57619,46019,327-133-1,249
    Total110,10098,37997,585-794-12,515
 
All Persons
    JB Claims38,05036,17734,413-1,764-3,637
    JA Applications199,868168,010168,786+776-31,082
    Other Registrants31,24229,50529,250-255-1,992
    Total269,160233,692232,449-1,243-36,711
Open in Excel: Live Register May 2017 Table 1(c) (XLS 34KB)
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Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
 Unadjusted SeriesSeasonally Adjusted Series¹
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
2015May208,518136,813345,331207,600139,400347,000
 June211,276144,920356,196205,900138,700344,700
 July210,156153,157363,313203,700139,200342,900
 August208,276150,523358,799202,000138,200340,200
 September197,385135,085332,470200,100137,200337,300
 October189,549130,982320,531196,400136,200332,600
 November188,042128,289316,331195,000134,800329,800
 December191,110130,263321,373193,400133,800327,200
 
2016January191,631129,882321,513190,500132,600323,100
 February190,120129,329319,449188,500131,400319,900
 March186,221129,143315,364185,800130,900316,600
 April181,386124,154305,540183,200129,300312,600
 May181,232125,590306,822180,500128,100308,600
 June181,980133,674315,654177,500127,600305,100
 July180,414138,581318,995175,000125,200300,200
 August178,515137,503316,018173,100125,400298,500
 September166,522119,581286,103169,000122,000291,000
 October161,307115,502276,809167,200120,700287,900
 November158,996114,164273,160164,900120,500285,400
 December160,588115,914276,502162,700119,400282,100
 
2017January161,365115,527276,892160,300118,200278,500
 February159,748115,345275,093158,200117,200275,400
 March155,716111,486267,202156,100115,600271,600
 April152,653110,764263,417153,500113,400266,900
 May152,460110,242262,702 152,000112,700264,700
¹ Table contains revised figures
Open in Excel: Live Register May 2017 Table 2(a) (XLS 41KB)
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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
2015May27,72819,29947,027 27,60019,50047,100
 June28,79920,63649,43527,20019,00046,200
 July28,80021,45850,25826,80018,80045,600
 August28,52921,27449,80326,40018,50044,900
 September26,29818,80245,10026,20018,30044,500
 October24,05516,97741,03225,20017,80043,000
 November23,22816,08839,31624,80017,50042,300
 December23,14215,54638,68824,60017,20041,800
 
2016January23,72716,02439,75124,10016,80040,900
 February23,66416,08439,74823,80016,60040,300
 March22,74615,63038,37623,00016,20039,300
 April21,99214,91436,90622,60015,90038,400
 May22,17215,49037,66222,00015,60037,600
 June22,75416,76539,51921,50015,40036,900
 July22,60617,23739,84321,00015,10036,100
 August22,34717,13439,48120,60014,90035,500
 September19,99814,51734,51520,00014,20034,200
 October18,80613,40232,20819,80014,10033,900
 November18,06012,75230,81219,40013,90033,300
 December17,89012,39530,28519,00013,70032,700
 
2017January18,46012,93631,39618,70013,60032,300
 February18,39813,07831,47618,40013,40031,900
 March18,11012,73930,84918,30013,30031,600
 April17,34012,38529,72517,80013,00030,800
 May17,59612,65730,253 17,50012,70030,200
¹ Table contains revised figures
Open in Excel: Live Register May 2017 Table 2(b) (XLS 39KB)
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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
2015May180,790117,514298,304 180,100119,900300,000
 June182,477124,284306,761 178,700119,700298,400
 July181,356131,699313,055 176,900120,400297,300
 August179,747129,249308,996 175,600119,600295,300
 September171,087116,283287,370 173,900118,900292,800
 October165,494114,005279,499 171,200118,500289,600
 November164,814112,201277,015 170,100117,300287,400
 December167,968114,717282,685 168,900116,600285,500
 
2016January167,904113,858281,762 166,400115,800282,200
 February166,456113,245279,701 164,700114,900279,600
 March163,475113,513276,988 162,700114,600277,300
 April159,394109,240268,634 160,700113,500274,200
 May159,060110,100269,160 158,500112,500271,000
 June159,226116,909276,135 156,100112,200268,200
 July157,808121,344279,152 154,000110,100264,100
 August156,168120,369276,537 152,500110,500263,000
 September146,524105,064251,588 149,000107,800256,800
 October142,501102,100244,601 147,400106,600254,100
 November140,936101,412242,348 145,500106,600252,100
 December142,698103,519246,217 143,700105,700249,400
 
2017January142,905102,591245,496 141,600104,600246,200
 February141,350102,267243,617 139,800103,800243,600
 March137,60698,747236,353 137,800102,200240,000
 April135,31398,379233,692 135,700100,400236,100
 May134,86497,585232,449 134,500100,000234,500
¹ Table contains revised figures
Open in Excel: Live Register May 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
2016May19,6443,15916,4853,339 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
 March18,6463,64415,0024,173 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
JA Applications
2016May150,8299,775141,0549,619 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
 March127,2566,871120,38510,106 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
Other Registrants
2016May10,75920110,558334 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
 March9,8141989,616464 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
All Schemes
2016May181,23213,135168,09713,292 125,5909,939115,6518,500 306,82223,074283,74821,792
 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
 March155,71610,713145,00314,743 111,4867,564103,92211,425 267,20218,277248,92526,168
 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
Open in Excel: Live Register May 2017 Table 3 (XLS 67KB)
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Table 4 Persons on the Live Register classified by region
NUTS2 and NUTS3 Regions¹May 2016April 2017May 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
      Border, Midland and Western56,30047,72547,662-63-8,6385,77141,891
      Border25,62321,62821,549-79-4,0742,66318,886
      Midland14,58912,09512,115+20-2,4741,63210,483
      West16,08814,00213,998-04-2,0901,47612,522
  
      Southern and Eastern124,932104,928104,798-130-20,13411,82592,973
      Dublin45,79238,91639,087+171-6,7054,27034,817
      Mid-East16,82613,82513,854+29-2,9721,66012,194
      Mid-West14,90912,78312,857+74-2,0521,63211,225
      South-East24,40320,13120,115-16-4,2882,42017,695
      South-West23,00219,27318,885-388-4,1171,84317,042
      Total181,232152,653152,460-193-28,77217,596134,864
 
Females
      Border, Midland and Western40,63536,25936,060-199-4,5754,33631,724
      Border18,21616,06116,028-33-2,1881,97114,057
      Midland10,8089,4739,492+19-1,3161,3388,154
      West11,61110,72510,540-185-1,0711,0279,513
 
      Southern and Eastern84,95574,50574,182-323-10,7738,32165,861
      Dublin28,88725,43225,620+188-3,2672,71422,906
      Mid-East13,04611,23411,081-153-1,9651,1819,900
      Mid-West10,3479,0679,087+20-1,2601,1887,899
      South-East17,02514,86614,885+19-2,1401,90612,979
      South-West15,65013,90613,509-397-2,1411,33212,177
      Total125,590110,764110,242-522-15,34812,65797,585
 
All Persons
      Border, Midland and Western96,93583,98483,722-262-13,21310,10773,615
      Border43,83937,68937,577-112-6,2624,63432,943
      Midland25,39721,56821,607+39-3,7902,97018,637
      West27,69924,72724,538-189-3,1612,50322,035
 
      Southern and Eastern209,887179,433178,980-453-30,90720,146158,834
      Dublin74,67964,34864,707+359-9,9726,98457,723
      Mid-East29,87225,05924,935-124-4,9372,84122,094
      Mid-West25,25621,85021,944+94-3,3122,82019,124
      South-East41,42834,99735,000+03-6,4284,32630,674
      South-West38,65233,17932,394-785-6,2583,17529,219
      Total306,822263,417262,702-715-44,12030,253232,449
¹ The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes
Open in Excel: Live Register May 2017 Table 4 (XLS 44KB)
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Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
Broad occupational groupMay 2016April 2017May 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
Managers and administrators7,9126,9686,970+2-9421756,795
Professional7,8856,8596,957+98-9283336,624
Associate professional and technical 5,0924,5144,689+175-4034414,248
Clerical and secretarial8,1677,3037,238-65-9296836,555
Craft and related 51,25841,74341,174-569-10,0842,73438,440
Personal and protective service12,80511,16911,062-107-1,7431,0729,990
Sales12,75610,46410,779+315-1,9772,3558,424
Plant and machine operatives36,31130,65630,326-330-5,9853,28027,046
Other occupation27,68623,35423,412+58-4,2743,20820,204
No occupation¹11,3609,6239,853+230-1,5073,3156,538
Total 181,232152,653152,460-193-28,77217,596134,864
 
Females
Managers and administrators5,9125,3075,329+22-5831095,220
Professional9,3248,2748,143-131-1,1813077,836
Associate professional and technical 3,9913,6443,706+62-2852083,498
Clerical and secretarial21,77420,22919,723-506-2,05185518,868
Craft and related 6,6176,3366,294-42-3237545,540
Personal and protective service26,51423,09522,729-366-3,7852,59920,130
Sales21,46117,87418,093+219-3,3682,72415,369
Plant and machine operatives13,02911,48611,373-113-1,6561,3939,980
Other occupation9,3488,0528,230+178-1,1181,5836,647
No occupation¹7,6206,4676,622+155-9982,1254,497
Total125,590110,764110,242-522-15,34812,65797,585
 
All Persons
Managers and administrators13,82412,27512,299+24-1,52528412,015
Professional17,20915,13315,100-33-2,10964014,460
Associate professional and technical 9,0838,1588,395+237-6886497,746
Clerical and secretarial29,94127,53226,961-571-2,9801,53825,423
Craft and related 57,87548,07947,468-611-10,4073,48843,980
Personal and protective service39,31934,26433,791-473-5,5283,67130,120
Sales34,21728,33828,872+534-5,3455,07923,793
Plant and machine operatives49,34042,14241,699-443-7,6414,67337,026
Other occupation37,03431,40631,642+236-5,3924,79126,851
No occupation¹18,98016,09016,475+385-2,5055,44011,035
Total 306,822263,417262,702-715-44,12030,253232,449
¹ Includes those who never worked and those who have no stated occupation
Open in Excel: Live Register May 2017 Table 5 (XLS 44KB)
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Table 6 Persons on the Live Register classified by duration of continuous registration
DurationMay 2016April 2017May 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
   Less than one year92,60984,17782,920-1,257-9,68912,23070,690
   One year or more88,62368,47669,540+1,064-19,0835,36664,174
   Total181,232152,653152,460-193-28,77217,596134,864
 
Females
   Less than one year73,78867,43366,010-1,423-7,7789,30756,703
   One year or more51,80243,33144,232+901-7,5703,35040,882
   Total125,590110,764110,242-522-15,34812,65797,585
 
All Persons
   Less than one year166,397151,610148,930-2,680-17,46721,537127,393
   One year or more140,425111,807113,772+1,965-26,6538,716105,056
   Total306,822263,417262,702-715-44,12030,253232,449
Open in Excel: Live Register May 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
2015May36,869-507 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
 December34,726+16 30,917-03 65,643+13
 
2016January34,447-279 30,767-150 65,214-429
 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+08 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
Open in Excel: Live Register May 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
2015May13,0293,29033,0988,911 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
 December12,0603,36430,8478,119 54,390266,983321,373
 
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
 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
Open in Excel: Live Register May 2017 Table 8 (XLS 43KB)
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Table 9 Live Register Compositional Analysis
 May 2014 May 2015 May 2016 May 2017
 Number% of total Number% of total Number% of total Number% of total
Sex
Males240,25461.8 208,51860.4 181,23259.1 152,46058.0
Females148,23238.2 136,81339.6 125,59040.9 110,24242.0
Total388,486100.0 345,331100.0 306,822100.0 262,702100.0
 
Age
Under 25 years58,46015.0 47,02713.6 37,66212.3 30,25311.5
25 years and over330,02685.0 298,30486.4 269,16087.7 232,44988.5
Total388,486100.0 345,331100.0 306,822100.0 262,702100.0
 
Scheme
JB Claims52,67313.6 45,40813.1 40,33513.1 36,43713.9
JA Applications300,16377.3 265,59376.9 235,04276.6 196,85774.9
Other Registrants35,6509.2 34,3309.9 31,44510.2 29,40811.2
Total388,486100.0 345,331100.0 306,822100.0 262,702100.0
 
Duration of Continuous Registration
Less than one year205,18252.8 183,53753.1 166,39754.2 148,93056.7
One year or more183,30447.2 161,79446.9 140,42545.8 113,77243.3
Total388,486100.0 345,331100.0 306,822100.0 262,702100.0
 
Nationality Grouping
Irish Nationals321,74782.8 287,00383.1 254,32482.9 217,12782.7
Non-Irish Nationals66,73917.2 58,32816.9 52,49817.1 45,57517.3
Total388,486100.0 345,331100.0 306,822100.0 262,702100.0
 
NUTS2 Regions¹
Border, Midland and Western121,70331.3 108,50531.4 96,93531.6 83,72231.9
Southern and Eastern266,78368.7 236,82668.6 209,88768.4 178,98068.1
Total388,486100.0 345,331100.0 306,822100.0 262,702100.0
 
Last Held Occupation
Managers and administrators16,4124.2 15,2784.4 13,8244.5 12,2994.7
Professional21,8625.6 19,2495.6 17,2095.6 15,1005.7
Associate professional and technical11,2452.9 9,6702.8 9,0833.0 8,3953.2
Clerical and secretarial36,5799.4 32,8939.5 29,9419.8 26,96110.3
Craft and related 80,02020.6 67,78519.6 57,87518.9 47,46818.1
Personal and protective service47,74812.3 43,25012.5 39,31912.8 33,79112.9
Sales43,86511.3 38,30711.1 34,21711.2 28,87211.0
Plant and machine operatives64,26116.5 56,48616.4 49,34016.1 41,69915.9
Other occupation45,21811.6 41,99412.2 37,03412.1 31,64212.0
No Occupation²21,2765.5 20,4195.9 18,9806.2 16,4756.3
Total388,486100.0 345,331100.0 306,822100.0 262,702100.0
 
Casual Status
No casual and part-time work311,79380.3 276,13480.0 243,00479.2 205,73678.3
Casual and part-time work76,69319.7 69,19720.0 63,81820.8 56,96621.7
Total388,486100.0 345,331100.0 306,822100.0 262,702100.0
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 May 2017 Table 9 (XLS 49KB)
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Annex Table A1 - Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes
 April 2016March 2017April 2017
Back to Work Schemes
Back to Work allowance scheme - Employee strand1000
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand11,60110,75410,658
Short-term Enterprise Allowance2 395394407
Total Back to Work payments 11,99611,14811,065
 
Other Activation Programmes
DSP Part-time Job Incentive443468466
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) 7,9777,2627,165
JobBridge (2011)34,015976746
Gateway (2013)42,073385345
Total Other Activation Programmes14,5089,0918,722
     
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors)22,93822,12122,1215
 
FAS (Solas) Full Time Training for Unemployed People7,0336,4526,489
     
Back to Education Courses
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)6N/AN/AN/A
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)716,64113,56913,362
Total Back to Education Courses 21,64118,56918,362
     
Total Activation Programmes78,11667,38166,759
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.
3 This scheme was closed to new applications from 21 October 2016.
4 Gateway Scheme included from December 2013.
5 Figure as at March 2017 as data for April 2017 was 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 May 2017 Annex (XLS 35KB)
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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 has been 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 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:

May 2017 – 30th April  to 27th May 2017

May 2016 – 1st to 28th May 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 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 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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Contact:

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Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

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