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Press Statement

Preasráiteas

07 August 2020

Live Register July 2020 and COVID-19 Income Support Payment Measures

  • The COVID-19 crisis has continued to have a significant impact on the labour market during July 2020
  • Unadjusted Live Register total stands at 244,562 for July 2020
  • Seasonally adjusted Live Register total for July 2020 was 226,600, up 12,900 from June 2020
  • In the last week of July 2020, 274,578 persons were in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment
  • In July 2020, 447,639 persons benefitted from the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme

Go to release: Live Register July 2020

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (07 August 2020) issued results from the Live Register in respect of July 2020. Today’s release also includes details regarding the COVID-19 payment schemes.

Catalina Gonzalez, Statistician, CSO, explains the approach taken regarding the publication of today’s Live Register and COVID-19 payments:

In the last week of July 2020, 274,578 of those whose income from employment has been affected due to COVID-19 benefitted from the Pandemic Unemployment Payment which is administered by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP). A larger cohort were facilitated through the Revenue Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (447,639) in July 2020.

These emergency payments are not captured in the traditional methodology of the Live Register which is a historical series that captures the number of claimants for Jobseekers Benefit (JB)/Jobseekers Assistance (JA).

Furthermore, COVID-19 payments were originally designed to be short-term in nature, with an expectation that those in receipt of such payments may return to work or may subsequently be considered for JB/JA.

As it would not be statistically beneficial or valid to break the current Live Register series to try and capture these temporary measures, it has been decided to compile the Live Register data for July 2020 in the traditional way and provide separate details of COVID-19 payments.

This approach preserves the continuity of the traditional Live Register series while at the same time providing transparency around the impact of COVID-19.' (see Information Note on Implications of COVID-19 on the Live Register and the Monthly Unemployment Estimates for more details).

Commenting on today’s publication, Catalina Gonzalez continued:

The unadjusted Live Register total for July 2020 is 244,562. When seasonal effects are considered, the seasonally adjusted Live Register total for July 2020 was 226,600 which was an increase of 12,900 from June 2020.

Outside of the traditional Live Register, in the last week of July 2020, 274,578 people were in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment while 447,639 persons received the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme in July 2020.

A total of 922,696 persons were either on the Live Register for July 2020 or received either the Pandemic Unemployment Payment or the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme in July 2020. This number is not the total of the three schemes, as there is some overlap between them due to the different frequency of the payments, and the fact that some people who are included on the Live Register but not receiving a payment, might be in receipt of either the Pandemic Unemployment Payment or the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme.’

Commenting further on aggregates of the COVID-19 income supports, Catalina Gonzalez continued:

‘The CSO is working with and will continue to collaborate with both DEASP and the Revenue Commissioners to meet user needs for availability of more detailed aggregates for the COVID-19 income supports.

Tables providing the breakdowns of the numbers receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme each week by sex, age group, county and nationality grouping are being made available today at the following link: Detailed COVID-19 Income Support Tables. The tables available at this link will be updated on a weekly basis for as long as the CSO deems it to be necessary.

Looking at this data it can be seen that, of the 274,578 persons in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment for the week ending 02 August 2020, 53.2% are male, 71.6% are Irish, and almost a quarter are in each of the 25-34 year (22.7%) and 35-44 year (22.5%) age groups. It can also be noted that 703,181 people have received at least one payment since the scheme was established in March 2020, of which 56.4% are male and 48.1% are aged between 25 and 44 years of age.

For those availing of the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, out of the 279,255 currently recorded as being on the scheme and having received a payment for the week ending 26 July 2020, 54.5% are male, 75.8% are Irish Nationals and 48.6% are aged between 25 and 44 years.

Finally, commenting on recent proposed changes to the COVID-19 income supports such as the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, Catalina Gonzalez added:

The COVID-19 income supports were originally set up as short-term emergency income supports but they have been extended several times and there have been changes made in terms of the eligibility criteria and how they are being administered. While the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme were both expected, until recently, to cease in August, the latest announcements have indicated that the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is expected to continue into 2021 while the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme will be replaced by the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme from 01 September 2020.

The CSO will continue to evaluate the current income support schemes and any new schemes to determine whether any changes are required to the methodology for our Live Register release. Any changes we may make to the methodology in the future will be clearly outlined to users in the statistical release and accompanying material.’

Note to Editors

Enquiries:

Catalina Gonzalez, Labour Market Analysis -  087-646 7535

Email: labour@cso.ie

For further details:

Information Note on Implications of COVID-19 on the Live Register and the Monthly Unemployment Estimates

List of CSO Statistical Releases Affected by COVID-19

For further information contact:

Catalina Gonzalez (+353) 21 453 5163

or email labour@cso.ie

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