The Live Register is compiled from returns made for each local office to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) by the Department of Social Protection (DSP). It comprises of persons under 65 years of age in the following classes:
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 01 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 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 PxStat tables.
The reference month for the Live Register refers to the week (Monday-Sunday) of the last Thursday in the month. Prior to May 2015, the reference period for the Live Register referred to the week of the last Friday in the month.
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 It has been replaced by the Monthly Unemployment series which was published on 01 February 2023.
The Labour Force Survey (LFS), was launched in January 2018 with the publication of Quarter 3 2017 data (Q3 2017). The LFS replaced the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS).
The LFS provides quarterly estimates of the unemployment rate.
The calendar reference quarters for survey results are:
Q1 - January to March, Q2 - April to June, Q3 - July to September and Q4 - October to December.
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 seasonally adjusted series from January 2010 are subject to update on a monthly basis. Revisions to the series are typically very minor in scale. It should be noted that larger revisions can occur when the comprehensive annual review of the seasonal adjustment model is carried out in January of each year.
Seasonally adjusting the Live Register series impacted by the Covid-19 crisis will be challenging until the scale and shape of its impact on the time series is better understood. This initial seasonally adjusted result might be revised for some months ahead as future observations become available. Users should be aware that there is increased uncertainty around the seasonally adjusted figures during this period.
For additional information on the use of X-12-ARIMA see Live Register - January 2011 (PDF 158KB) in the January 2011 Live Register release.
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.
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.
Please see the DSP website for further information on the age-related changes to the One Parent Family Payment Scheme.
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 reference 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”.
The basis of the area analysis in Live Register statistics is the DSP local office of registration. The areas served by Local Employment Offices do not correspond to specific geographic boundaries. Therefore, registrants at a given local office do not necessarily come from a particular region or area which can be precisely delineated e.g. data for the Cork City Local Offices of Registration refers to all persons signing on in Cork City but may include persons not resident in Cork City.
From January 2018, registrations which have not yet been assigned to a DSP local office of registration are included in the Live Register totals. Therefore, as these registrations are not included in the regional breakdowns, the sum of these regions may not add to the Live Register totals.
The latest available Live Register data by Province, County and Local Office of Registration are published on the CSO website, through PxStat.
The regional classifications in this release are based on the NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) classification used by Eurostat. Until Q4 2017, the NUTS3 regions corresponded 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 while the NUTS2 regions, which were proposed by Government and agreed by Eurostat in 1999, were groupings of those historic NUTS3 regions.
However, the NUTS3 boundaries were amended on 21 November 2016 under Regulation (EC) No. 2066/2016 and have come into force from Q1 2018. These new groupings are reflected in the LFS results from Q1 2018 onwards. The changes resulting from the amendment are that County Louth has moved from the Border to the Mid-East and what was formerly South Tipperary has moved from the South-East to the Mid-West, resulting in the new NUTS2 and NUTS3 regions:
| Northern & Western NUTS2 Region | Southern NUTS2 Region | Eastern & Midland NUTS2 Region | |||
| NUTS3 | Constituing Counties | NUTS3 | Constituing Counties | NUTS3 | Constituing Counties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Border | Cavan Donegal Leitrim Monaghan Sligo |
Mid-West | Clare Limerick Tipperary |
Dublin | Dublin City Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Fingal South Dublin |
| South-East | Carlow Kilkenny Waterford Wexford |
Mid-East | Kildare Louth Meath Wicklow |
||
| West | Galway Mayo Roscommon |
South-West | Cork Kerry |
Midland | Laois Longford Offaly Westmeath |
Live Register occupational data is sourced from information collected by the DSP 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.
Detailed tables relating to regional and scheme data are available on the CSO website through the CSO Main Data Dissemination Service, PxStat.
The number of claimants on the Live Register who work on a casual and /or part-time basis is supplied by the DSP. 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 DSP is satisfied that they are not in full-time employment, are available for work and are looking for full-time employment.
Data in the nationality grouping table is sourced from information collected by the DSP on the nationality of claimants when they first sign on the Live Register.
The Live Register measures the numbers of claims registered for Jobseekers Benefit (JB) Jobseekers Allowance (JA) or credited contributions.
The Live Register can be considered as consisting of recipients, where a claim has been awarded and the person is in receipt of a payment or credited PRSI contributions, and non-recipients, where the person is not in receipt of a payment. Non-recipient claims include:
While most Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) recipients were not counted on the Live Register, the payment had an impact on Live Register trends. There were cases where both a PUP and jobseeker claim belonging to the same person were registered with the DSP, but where no jobseeker payment was made. This resulted in overlaps between the PUP (where they were a recipient) and the Live Register (where they were a non-recipient). In cases where PUP claims transferred to the Live Register, this meant a decrease in PUP without an equivalent increase in the Live Register. In cases of PUP exits to employment, non-recipient Live Register claims were identified and closed where appropriate.
Please see for further information.
A table providing a breakdown of Live Register claimants by recipient and non-recipient status is available in Annex Table A2 in this release, while the corresponding series from January 2012 onwards is also available on PxStat.
For further information or assistance use the contact details below or e-mail labour@cso.ie
