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Press Statement

Preasráiteas

05 June 2020

Press Statement Live Register May 2020

Live Register May 2020 and COVID-19 Income Support Payment Measures
  • The COVID-19 crisis has continued to have a significant impact on the labour market during May 2020
  • Unadjusted Live Register total stands at 225,662 for May 2020
  • Seasonally adjusted Live Register total for May 2020 was 226,400, up 8,900 from April 2020
  • In the last week of May 2020, 543,164 people were in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment
  • In May 2020, 436,344 persons benefitted from the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme
  • A total of 1,140,579 persons were either on the Live Register for May 2020 or benefitted from either the Pandemic Unemployment Payment or the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme in May 2020.

Go to release: Live Register May 2020

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (5 June 2020) issued results from the Live Register in respect of May 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:

“The majority of those whose income from employment has been affected due to COVID-19 are currently being facilitated through the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (543,164) which is administered by the DEASP. A smaller cohort are currently being facilitated through the Revenue Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme (436,344).

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 are currently viewed as 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 May 2020 in the traditional way and provide separate details of COVID-19 payments.

This approach preserves the continuity of the traditional Live Register series from what is a short-term emergency intervention while at the same time providing transparency around the impact of COVID-19. (see information note: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/in/mue/inlrmue/ for more details).”

Commenting on today’s publication, Catalina Gonzalez continued:

The unadjusted Live Register total for May 2020 is 225,662. When seasonal effects are taken into account, the seasonally adjusted Live Register total for May 2020 was 226,400 which was an increase of 8,900 from April 2020.

Outside of the traditional Live Register, in the last week of May 2020, 543,164 people were in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment while 436,344 persons have benefitted from the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme in May 2020.

A total of 1,140,579 persons were either on the Live Register for May 2020 or benefitted from either the Pandemic Unemployment Payment or the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme in May 2020. This number is not the total of the 3 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 benefitting from either the Pandemic Unemployment Payment or the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme

Commenting further on aggregates of the COVID-19 income supports being made available by the CSO, Catalina Gonzalez continued:

“The CSO has worked with both the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (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. This link will be updated on a weekly basis for the duration of the schemes.

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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