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International comparison:
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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

September 2017

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
September 2016286,103291,200
August 2017264,256249,500
September 2017244,319249,200
   
Change in month-- 300
Change in year- 41,784-

Seasonally adjusted Live Register total decreases by 300 in September

Live Register seasonally adjusted
go to full release

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 300 (-0.1%) in September 2017, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 249,200. The number of persons on the Live Register in September 2017 is also the lowest number recorded in the seasonally adjusted series since September 2008. See table 2(a).

In unadjusted terms there were 244,319 persons signing on the Live Register in September 2017. This represents an annual decrease of 41,784 (-14.6%). 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 September 2017, while females increased by 1,200 (+1.1%) over the same period. See table 2(a).
  • The number of male claimants decreased by 26,402 (-15.9%) to 140,120 in the year to September 2017, while female claimants decreased by 15,382 (-12.9%) to 104,199.  This compares with a decrease of 30,863 (-15.6%) to 166,522 for males, while female claimants decreased by 15,504 (-11.5%) to 119,581 in the year to September 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The Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) has been discontinued and has been replaced by the Monthly Unemployment release which is available here.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
Sepember 2015175741156729
October 2015171005149526
November 2015169616146715
December 2015175286146087
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
June 2017153521115205
July 2017160457113928
August 2017152457111799
September 2017138980105339

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in September 2017 was 105,339. The number of male long term claimants decreased by 17,142 (-21.2%) in the year to September 2017, while females decreased by 8,090 (-16.2%), giving an overall annual decrease of 25,232 (-19.3%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and figure 2.

In September 2017, 56.9% (138,980) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for September 2016 was 54.4% (155,532). The annual fall of 16,552 (-10.6%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 9,260 (-10.8%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 7,292 (-10.5%) in female short term claimants. See table 6.

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 51,992 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in September 2017, which represents 21.3% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 20.8% one year earlier when there were 59,585 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register.  In the year to September 2017 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 7,593 (-12.7%), with the number of males decreasing by 4,592 (-14.7%) and the number of females decreasing by 3,001 (-10.6%). See table 7.

Under 25 years25 years and over
September 201545100287370
September 201634515251588
September 201728471215848

Live Register age groups

In the year to September 2017 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 35,740 (-14.2%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 6,044 (-17.5%).  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 11.7% for September 2017, down from 12.1% in September 2016 and 13.6% in September 2015. See tables 1(b) and 1(c) and figure 3.

Live Register new registrants

There were 17,011 new registrants on the Live Register in September 2017, consisting of 10,405 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) claims, 6,022 Jobseekers Benefit (JB) claims and 584 “Other Registrants”. Males accounted for 55.8% (9,487) and females 44.2% (7,524) of all new registrants. JA claims represented 61.2% of all new registrations, while JB claims and “Other Registrants” represented 35.4% and 3.4% respectively.  See table 3.

Live Register last occupation held

Craft and related (17.5%) remained the largest occupational group1 on the Live Register in September, despite the fact that the number in the group fell over the year by 8,859 (-17.1%) to 42,815. The second largest annual percentage decrease was in the Plant and machine operatives group, which decreased by 16.1%.

The two smallest occupational groups in September were the Associate professional and technical and the Managers and administrators groups which accounted for 3.3% and 4.8% of the Live Register respectively. See table 5 and figure 4.

 

Broad Occupational GroupSeptember 2015September 2016September 2017
1147611337711640
2193871731415110
3970888388043
4325812902025504
5627385167442815
6419163634431219
7365263117426280
8533784504137800
9405263454330121
10209491877815787
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 36,951 (-16.9%) brought the total number of JA claimants to 181,713 in September 2017, while JB claimants decreased to 34,419 (-7.0%) over the same period.  As a result JA claimants account for 74.4% of all persons on the Live Register in September 2017 compared with 76.4% 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 (-16.8%) followed by the Mid-East region (-15.9%). See table 4.
  • In September, Irish nationals accounted for 82.8% (202,389) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 41,930 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU28 States (22,616), followed by the UK (9,333). See table 8.

Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of August 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 51,065 people availing of these programmes in August 2017, which is a decrease of 7,795 persons (-13.2%) from the previous year, when there were 58,860 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
CategorySeptember 2016August 2017September 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims17,42317,34516,157-1,188-1,266
    JA Applications138,866121,402114,671-6,731-24,195
    Other Registrants10,2339,5189,292-226-941
    Total166,522148,265140,120-8,145-26,402
 
Females
    JB Claims19,59223,44118,262-5,179-1,330
    JA Applications79,79872,95367,042-5,911-12,756
    Other Registrants20,19119,59718,895-702-1,296
    Total119,581115,991104,199-11,792-15,382
 
All Persons
    JB Claims37,01540,78634,419-6,367-2,596
    JA Applications218,664194,355181,713-12,642-36,951
    Other Registrants30,42429,11528,187-928-2,237
    Total286,103264,256244,319-19,937-41,784
Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategorySeptember 2016August 2017September 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims1,0131,1531,080-73+67
    JA Applications18,89216,64015,286-1,354-3,606
    Other Registrants937770-7-23
    Total19,99817,87016,436-1,434-3,562
 
Females
    JB Claims1,0091,216990-226-19
    JA Applications13,41712,51110,973-1,538-2,444
    Other Registrants918672-14-19
    Total14,51713,81312,035-1,778-2,482
 
All Persons
    JB Claims2,0222,3692,070-299+48
    JA Applications32,30929,15126,259-2,892-6,050
    Other Registrants184163142-21-42
    Total34,51531,68328,471-3,212-6,044
Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategorySeptember 2016August 2017September 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims16,41016,19215,077-1,115-1,333
    JA Applications119,974104,76299,385-5,377-20,589
    Other Registrants10,1409,4419,222-219-918
    Total146,524130,395123,684-6,711-22,840
 
Females
    JB Claims18,58322,22517,272-4,953-1,311
    JA Applications66,38160,44256,069-4,373-10,312
    Other Registrants20,10019,51118,823-688-1,277
    Total105,064102,17892,164-10,014-12,900
 
All Persons
    JB Claims34,99338,41732,349-6,068-2,644
    JA Applications186,355165,204155,454-9,750-30,901
    Other Registrants30,24028,95228,045-907-2,195
    Total251,588232,573215,848-16,725-35,740
Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
 Unadjusted SeriesSeasonally Adjusted Series¹
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
2015September197,385135,085358,799200,400137,100337,500
 October189,549130,982320,531196,600136,200332,800
 November188,042128,289316,331195,100134,900330,000
 December191,110130,263321,373193,500133,800327,300
 
2016January191,631129,882321,513190,500132,600323,000
 February190,120129,329319,449188,400131,400319,700
 March186,221129,143315,364185,500130,700316,300
 April181,386124,154305,540182,900129,400312,300
 May181,232125,590306,822180,100128,000308,100
 June181,980133,674315,654177,500127,600305,100
 July180,414138,581318,995175,100124,800299,900
 August178,515137,503316,018173,400126,200299,700
 September166,522119,581286,103169,300121,800291,200
 October161,307115,502276,809167,500120,700288,100
 November158,996114,164273,160165,100120,700285,800
 December160,588115,914276,502162,800119,400282,200
 
2017January161,365115,527276,892160,300118,100278,300
 February159,748115,345275,093158,100117,100275,100
 March155,716111,486267,202155,800115,400271,200
 April152,653110,764263,417153,200113,500266,600
 May152,460110,242262,702151,400112,500263,900
 June152,665116,061268,726149,000110,200259,200
 July151,513122,872274,385147,100109,500256,600
 August148,265115,991264,256144,200105,300249,500
 September140,120104,199244,319 142,700106,500249,200
¹ Table contains revised figures
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
2015September26,29821,27449,803 26,20018,30044,500
 October24,05516,97741,03225,20017,80043,000
 November23,22816,08839,31624,80017,50042,400
 December23,14215,54638,68824,60017,20041,700
 
2016January23,72716,02439,75124,00016,80040,800
 February23,66416,08439,74823,70016,60040,300
 March22,74615,63038,37623,00016,20039,200
 April21,99214,91436,90622,50015,90038,400
 May22,17215,49037,66222,00015,60037,600
 June22,75416,76539,51921,50015,40036,900
 July22,60617,23739,84321,10015,00036,200
 August22,34717,13439,48120,70014,90035,600
 September19,99814,51734,51520,00014,20034,200
 October18,80613,40232,20819,80014,10033,900
 November18,06012,75230,81219,40014,00033,300
 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
 July17,94914,28832,23716,80012,40029,200
 August17,87013,81331,68316,60012,00028,600
 September16,43612,03528,471 16,40011,80028,300
¹ Table contains revised figures
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
2015September171,087129,249308,996 174,100118,800292,900
 October165,494114,005279,499 171,400118,400289,800
 November164,814112,201277,015 170,300117,400287,700
 December167,968114,717282,685 169,000116,600285,600
 
2016January167,904113,858281,762 166,500115,700282,200
 February166,456113,245279,701 164,600114,800279,400
 March163,475113,513276,988 162,500114,500277,000
 April159,394109,240268,634 160,400113,500274,000
 May159,060110,100269,160 158,100112,400270,500
 June159,226116,909276,135 156,000112,200268,200
 July157,808121,344279,152 154,000109,800263,800
 August156,168120,369276,537 152,700111,300264,000
 September146,524105,064251,588 149,400107,600257,000
 October142,501102,100244,601 147,700106,500254,200
 November140,936101,412242,348 145,700106,700252,400
 December142,698103,519246,217 143,800105,700249,500
 
2017January142,905102,591245,496 141,600104,500246,100
 February141,350102,267243,617 139,700103,600243,300
 March137,60698,747236,353 137,500102,000239,600
 April135,31398,379233,692 135,400100,500235,900
 May134,86497,585232,449 134,00099,700233,700
 June134,642102,352236,994 131,90097,700229,600
 July133,564108,584242,148 130,30097,000227,400
 August130,395102,178232,573 127,60093,300220,900
 September123,68492,164215,848 126,20094,700220,900
¹ Table contains revised figures
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
2016September17,4233,57113,8524,925 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
 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
JA Applications
2016September138,8668,365130,50118,668 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
 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
Other Registrants
2016September10,2332659,968604 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
 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
All Schemes
2016September166,52212,201154,32124,197 119,5819,634109,94727,553 286,10321,835264,26851,750
 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
 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
Table 4 Persons on the Live Register classified by region
NUTS2 and NUTS3 Regions¹September 2016August 2017September 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
      Border, Midland and Western51,90646,23443,470-2,764-8,4365,20938,261
      Border23,57520,92219,704-1,218-3,8712,45917,245
      Midland13,50411,68110,875-806-2,6291,4029,473
      West14,82713,63112,891-740-1,9361,34811,543
 
      Southern and Eastern114,616102,03196,650-5,381-17,96611,22785,423
      Dublin42,70638,06036,480-1,580-6,2264,14032,340
      Mid-East15,24213,33312,552-781-2,6901,48411,068
      Mid-West13,78012,46711,662-805-2,1181,49810,164
      South-East22,01819,71818,704-1,014-3,3142,30416,400
      South-West20,87018,45317,252-1,201-3,6181,80115,451
      Total166,522148,265140,120-8,145-26,40216,436123,684
 
Females
      Border, Midland and Western38,92237,86534,163-3,702-4,7594,14630,017
      Border17,34316,63815,118-1,520-2,2251,91813,200
      Midland10,28110,0328,925-1,107-1,3561,2437,682
      West11,29811,19510,120-1,075-1,1789859,135
 
      Southern and Eastern80,65978,12670,036-8,090-10,6237,88962,147
      Dublin27,99226,99724,452-2,545-3,5402,65921,793
      Mid-East12,13211,71110,470-1,241-1,6621,1059,365
      Mid-West9,8699,7198,572-1,147-1,2971,1547,418
      South-East15,94915,31713,805-1,512-2,1441,76212,043
      South-West14,71714,38212,737-1,645-1,9801,20911,528
      Total119,581115,991104,199-11,792-15,38212,03592,164
 
All Persons
      Border, Midland and Western90,82884,09977,633-6,466-13,1959,35568,278
      Border40,91837,56034,822-2,738-6,0964,37730,445
      Midland23,78521,71319,800-1,913-3,9852,64517,155
      West26,12524,82623,011-1,815-3,1142,33320,678
 
      Southern and Eastern195,275180,157166,686-13,471-28,58919,116147,570
      Dublin70,69865,05760,932-4,125-9,7666,79954,133
      Mid-East27,37425,04423,022-2,022-4,3522,58920,433
      Mid-West23,64922,18620,234-1,952-3,4152,65217,582
      South-East37,96735,03532,509-2,526-5,4584,06628,443
      South-West35,58732,83529,989-2,846-5,5983,01026,979
      Total286,103264,256244,319-19,937-41,78428,471215,848
¹ The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes
Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
Broad occupational groupSeptember 2016August 2017September 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
Managers and administrators7,6206,8236,523-300-1,0971656,358
Professional7,7937,4866,718-768-1,0753426,376
Associate professional and technical 4,8824,7804,456-324-4264264,030
Clerical and secretarial7,8807,6376,697-940-1,1836396,058
Craft and related 45,33438,50736,975-1,532-8,3592,54134,434
Personal and protective service11,70310,55210,103-449-1,6009349,169
Sales11,63310,5599,749-810-1,8842,1567,593
Plant and machine operatives32,86128,87227,376-1,496-5,4852,99224,384
Other occupation25,63223,04322,148-895-3,4843,15818,990
No occupation¹11,18410,0069,375-631-1,8093,0836,292
Total 166,522148,265140,120-8,145-26,40216,436123,684
 
Females
Managers and administrators5,7575,3295,117-212-6401085,009
Professional9,52110,4578,392-2,065-1,1294007,992
Associate professional and technical 3,9563,8263,587-239-3692543,333
Clerical and secretarial21,14023,10518,807-4,298-2,33378518,022
Craft and related 6,3406,2295,840-389-5007105,130
Personal and protective service24,64122,83621,116-1,720-3,5252,38018,736
Sales19,54117,71916,531-1,188-3,0102,50614,025
Plant and machine operatives12,18011,09810,424-674-1,7561,2719,153
Other occupation8,9118,4817,973-508-9381,5796,394
No occupation¹7,5946,9116,412-499-1,1822,0424,370
Total119,581115,991104,199-11,792-15,38212,03592,164
 
All Persons
Managers and administrators13,37712,15211,640-512-1,73727311,367
Professional17,31417,94315,110-2,833-2,20474214,368
Associate professional and technical 8,8388,6068,043-563-7956807,363
Clerical and secretarial29,02030,74225,504-5,238-3,5161,42424,080
Craft and related 51,67444,73642,815-1,921-8,8593,25139,564
Personal and protective service36,34433,38831,219-2,169-5,1253,31427,905
Sales31,17428,27826,280-1,998-4,8944,66221,618
Plant and machine operatives45,04139,97037,800-2,170-7,2414,26333,537
Other occupation34,54331,52430,121-1,403-4,4224,73725,384
No occupation¹18,77816,91715,787-1,130-2,9915,12510,662
Total 286,103264,256244,319-19,937-41,78428,471215,848
¹ Includes those who never worked and those who have no stated occupation
Table 6 Persons on the Live Register classified by duration of continuous registration
DurationSeptember 2016August 2017September 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
   Less than one year85,79680,88176,536-4,345-9,26011,64564,891
   One year or more80,72667,38463,584-3,800-17,1424,79158,793
   Total166,522148,265140,120-8,145-26,40216,436123,684
 
Females
   Less than one year69,73671,57662,444-9,132-7,2928,88753,557
   One year or more49,84544,41541,755-2,660-8,0903,14838,607
   Total119,581115,991104,199-11,792-15,38212,03592,164
 
All Persons
   Less than one year155,532152,457138,980-13,477-16,55220,532118,448
   One year or more130,571111,799105,339-6,460-25,2327,93997,400
   Total286,103264,256244,319-19,937-41,78428,471215,848
Table 7 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register
  MalesMonthly change FemalesMonthly change All PersonsMonthly change
2015September34,791-983 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
 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
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
2015September12,3983,21230,6298,839 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
 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
Table 9 Live Register Compositional Analysis
 September 2014 September 2015 September 2016 September 2017
 Number% of total Number% of total Number% of total Number% of total
Sex
Males224,68060.8 197,38559.4 166,52258.2 140,12057.4
Females145,10339.2 135,08540.6 119,58141.8 104,19942.6
Total369,783100.0 332,470100.0 286,103100.0 244,319100.0
 
Age
Under 25 years55,07914.9 45,10013.6 34,51512.1 28,47111.7
25 years and over314,70485.1 287,37086.4 251,58887.9 215,84888.3
Total369,783100.0 332,470100.0 286,103100.0 244,319100.0
 
Scheme
JB Claims46,17212.5 40,80812.3 37,01512.9 34,41914.1
JA Applications288,50378.0 258,60077.8 218,66476.4 181,71374.4
Other Registrants35,1089.5 33,0629.9 30,42410.6 28,18711.5
Total369,783100.0 332,470100.0 286,103100.0 244,319100.0
 
Duration of Continuous Registration
Less than one year191,46651.8 175,74152.9 155,53254.4 138,98056.9
One year or more178,31748.2 156,72947.1 130,57145.6 105,33943.1
Total369,783100.0 332,470100.0 286,103100.0 244,319100.0
 
Nationality Grouping
Irish Nationals308,33083.4 277,39283.4 237,79983.1 202,38982.8
Non-Irish Nationals61,45316.6 55,07816.6 48,30416.9 41,93017.2
Total369,783100.0 332,470100.0 286,103100.0 244,319100.0
  
NUTS2 Regions¹
Border, Midland and Western115,98231.4 104,46831.4 90,82831.7 77,63331.8
Southern and Eastern253,80168.6 228,00268.6 195,27568.3 166,68668.2
Total369,783100.0 332,470100.0 286,103100.0 244,319100.0
 
Last Held Occupation
Managers and administrators15,6534.2 14,7614.4 13,3774.7 11,6404.8
Professional21,9835.9 19,3875.8 17,3146.1 15,1106.2
Associate professional and technical10,8592.9 9,7082.9 8,8383.1 8,0433.3
Clerical and secretarial35,5599.6 32,5819.8 29,02010.1 25,50410.4
Craft and related 73,33619.8 62,73818.9 51,67418.1 42,81517.5
Personal and protective service45,34512.3 41,91612.6 36,34412.7 31,21912.8
Sales41,18811.1 36,52611.0 31,17410.9 26,28010.8
Plant and machine operatives59,87516.2 53,37816.1 45,04115.7 37,80015.5
Other occupation44,21712.0 40,52612.2 34,54312.1 30,12112.3
No Occupation²21,7685.9 20,9496.3 18,7786.6 15,7876.5
Total369,783100.0 332,470100.0 286,103100.0 244,319100.0
 
Casual Status
No casual and part-time work298,09780.6 266,84180.3 226,51879.2 192,32778.7
Casual and part-time work71,68619.4 65,62919.7 59,58520.8 51,99221.3
Total369,783100.0 332,470100.0 286,103100.0 244,319100.0
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
Annex Table A1 - Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes
 August 2016July 2017August 2017
Back to Work Schemes
Back to Work allowance scheme - Employee strand1000
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand11,30510,45710,371
Short-term Enterprise Allowance2 406448444
Total Back to Work payments 11,71110,90510,815
 
Other Activation Programmes
DSP Part-time Job Incentive431385388
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) 7,6206,8206,790
JobBridge (2011)33,390322176
Gateway (2013)41,370187138
Total Other Activation Programmes12,8117,7147,492
     
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors)22,54121,95721,956
 
FAS (Solas) Full Time Training for Unemployed People4,7444,8764,240
     
Back to Education Courses
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)5N/AN/AN/A
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)62,0531,4681,562
Total Back to Education Courses 7,0536,4686,562
     
Total Activation Programmes58,86051,92051,065
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 VTOS figures are estimated at 5,000 per month.
6 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.

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:

September 2017 – 3rd September to 30th September 2017

September 2016 – 28th August to 1st October 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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