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Live Register May 2024

The seasonally adjusted Live Register fell by 0.3% to 173,200 people over the month to May 2024

Online ISSN: 200-535X

CSO statistical publication, 10 June 2024, 11am

Key Findings

The seasonally adjusted Live Register total for May 2024 was 173,200 people, down by 600 people or 0.3% from April 2024.
The unadjusted Live Register total stood at 168,406 people for May 2024, a decrease of 8,210 (-4.6%) from May 2023.
Of the 168,406 people on the unadjusted Live Register in May 2024, 54.9% were male and 69.5% were Irish.
The 35-44 age group made up the largest number of those on the Live Register in May 2024 at 39,501 people or 23.5% of the total.
There was an increase in the number of people on the Live Register in three counties in the 12 months to May 2024 - Meath (+5.0%), Laois (+3.0%) and Kildare (+1.1%)
In May 2024 there were 107,051 people on the Live Register for less than one year, which was 6,438 fewer people (-5.7%) than May 2023.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (10 June 2024) issued results from the Live Register for May 2024.

Commenting on today’s publication, Conor Delves, Statistician in the Labour Market Analysis Section, said:

“The unadjusted Live Register total for May 2024 was 168,406. When seasonal effects are considered, the seasonally adjusted Live Register total for May 2024 was 173,200 or 600 fewer people (-0.3%) than April 2024.

There were 19,115 people benefitting from the EU's Temporary Protection Directive included in the Live Register figures for May 2024, a decrease of 1,149 people (-5.7%) from April 2024

The largest percentage increases in the number of people on the Live Register in the 12 months to May 2024 were recorded in Meath (5.0%) and Laois (3.0%) - (See PxStat Table LRM15).

The number of people on the Live Register for one year or more in May 2024 was 61,355, which was 1,772 fewer people (-2.8%) than a year earlier. There were 107,051 people on the Live Register for less than one year, which represents just under two-thirds of the total number on the Live Register.”

The total figure for people receiving TPD supports in May was revised up by 1 to 19,115 in line with revised data provided by the Department of Social Protection. This revision occurs in the figure in the Statistician's Comment, in Table A3 and associated texts with TPD data. The upwards revision of 1 also applies to the component figures for Males, All Persons over 25 years old and Males over 25 years old - 03 July 2024.

Editor's Note

People arriving in Ireland from Ukraine under the EU's Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) can access a wide range of Department of Social Protection (DSP) supports. The majority of new applications for income support from people of working age are being processed as Jobseeker's Allowance (JA) claims until the most appropriate income support for that person is identified. This facilitates access to existing part-time work supports where appropriate. If a person is on JA for 20* claim paid days or more, they are counted on the Live Register.

*Before October 2022, persons availing of TPD were included in the Live Register when they had been in receipt of JA for 50 days or more.

Data in this release are subject to revision based on updates to the seasonally adjusted series whenever new monthly data are added, such revisions 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. See background notes for further details.

The seasonally adjusted Live Register fell by 0.3% to 173,200 people over the month to May 2024

Total Persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
	Live Register Total	Seasonally Adjusted
May 2023	176,616	181,900
April 2024	169,497	173,800
May 2024	168,406	173,200

Change in month	-	-600
Change in year	-8,210	-

Open in Excel: Live Register May 2024 Headline Table (XLS 32KB)

Table 1 Total Persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted

The counties that saw the largest percentage decrease in the number of persons on the Live Register in the 12 months to May 2024 were Kilkenny (-13.9%), Kerry (-13.0%) and Clare (-11.7%)

The number of Jobseeker's Allowance claims decreased by 5.9% (-7,378) in May 2024 compared with 12 months earlier.

The number of Jobseekers Benefit claims increased by 8.6% (+3,011) in May 2024 compared with 12 months earlier.

Table 2 Total Persons on the Live Register classified by Age and Sex

The number of persons on the Live Register for one year or more in May 2024 was 61,355 - down 1,772 (-2.8%) from a year earlier.

Table 3 Persons on the Live Register classified by Sex and Duration of Continuous Registration

19,066

people under the age of 25 were on the Live Register in May 2024.

This cohort accounted for 11.3% of all claimants.

Source: CSO Ireland, Live Register May 2024

Persons between the ages of 25 and 54 accounted for two-thirds of those on the Live Register in May 2024

Table 4 Summary of flows on and off the Live Register

Table 4 Summary of flows on and off the Live Register¹
		Males				Females				All Claimants
		Live Register	Joined Live Register	Stayed on Live Register	Left Live Register	Live Register	Joined Live Register	Stayed on Live Register	Left Live Register	Live Register	Joined Live Register	Stayed on Live Register	Left Live Register
JB Claims
2023	May	18,384	4,168	14,216	3,943	16,642	3,616	13,026	4,057	35,026	7,784	27,242	8,000
	June	19,487	5,857	13,630	4,051	21,703	9,032	12,671	3,396	41,190	14,889	26,301	7,447
	July	21,555	6,041	15,514	3,345	27,748	9,617	18,131	2,988	49,303	15,658	33,645	6,333
	August	20,862	5,531	15,331	5,424	21,736	5,287	16,449	10,715	42,598	10,818	31,780	16,139
	September	19,741	4,492	15,249	4,995	17,663	3,947	13,716	7,536	37,404	8,439	28,966	12,531
	October	19,668	4,759	14,909	4,138	17,092	3,815	13,277	3,918	36,760	8,574	28,186	8,056
	November	19,958	5,445	14,513	4,416	17,285	4,526	12,759	3,812	37,243	9,971	27,272	8,228
	December	21,319	4,761	16,558	2,708	18,421	3,958	14,463	2,366	39,740	8,719	31,021	5,074

2024	January	22,620	5,562	17,058	3,669	19,291	4,932	14,359	3,637	41,911	10,494	31,417	7,306
	February	21,457	5,170	16,287	5,480	18,345	4,154	14,191	4,521	39,802	9,324	30,478	10,001
	March	21,211	4,277	16,934	3,902	19,256	4,749	14,507	3,433	40,467	9,026	31,441	7,335
	April	20,585	4,510	16,075	4,426	18,080	4,050	14,030	4,728	38,665	8,560	30,105	9,154
	May	20,283	5,172	15,111	4,763	17,754	4,366	13,388	4,199	38,037	9,538	28,499	8,962
JA Applications
2023	May	71,946	4,467	67,479	5,483	53,977	3,768	50,209	4,685	125,923	8,235	117,688	10,168
	June	72,284	5,745	66,539	6,077	55,430	5,678	49,752	5,050	127,714	11,423	116,291	11,127
	July	72,773	4,798	67,975	4,918	56,830	5,126	51,704	4,195	129,603	9,924	119,679	9,113
	August	72,415	5,224	67,191	6,352	55,711	4,542	51,169	6,140	128,126	9,766	118,360	12,492
	September	70,613	4,688	65,925	7,095	52,503	3,662	48,841	7,571	123,116	8,350	114,766	14,666
	October	69,564	4,777	64,787	6,481	51,107	3,789	47,318	5,816	120,671	8,566	112,105	12,297
	November	69,247	5,419	63,828	6,415	50,683	4,336	46,347	5,212	119,930	9,755	110,175	11,627
	December	69,824	12,289	57,535	12,372	51,165	17,497	33,668	17,417	120,989	29,786	91,203	29,789

2024	January	71,335	4,986	66,349	4,054	51,855	3,807	48,048	3,492	123,190	8,793	114,397	7,546
	February	70,705	4,985	65,720	6,393	51,373	3,995	47,378	4,944	122,078	8,980	113,098	11,337
	March	70,033	3,990	66,043	5,242	50,839	3,169	47,670	4,019	120,872	7,159	113,713	9,261
	April	68,926	3,615	65,311	5,376	49,966	2,936	47,030	4,206	118,892	6,551	112,341	9,582
	May	68,762	5,498	63,264	6,309	49,783	4,503	45,280	5,080	118,545	10,001	108,544	11,389
Other Registrants
2023	May	4,539	68	4,471	164	11,128	129	10,999	269	15,667	197	15,470	433
	June	4,457	69	4,388	192	11,186	261	10,925	328	15,643	330	15,313	520
	July	4,453	111	4,342	135	11,427	383	11,044	256	15,880	494	15,386	391
	August	4,336	97	4,239	242	11,057	195	10,862	672	15,393	292	15,101	914
	September	3,822	92	3,730	628	9,560	161	9,399	1,710	13,382	253	13,129	2,338
	October	3,494	101	3,393	481	8,786	228	8,558	1,074	12,280	329	11,951	1,555
	November	3,521	135	3,386	166	8,752	209	8,543	314	12,273	344	11,929	480
	December	3,527	107	3,420	133	8,747	197	8,550	256	12,274	304	11,970	389

2024	January	3,503	106	3,397	142	8,660	135	8,525	273	12,163	241	11,922	415
	February	3,481	81	3,400	175	8,621	179	8,442	333	12,102	260	11,842	508
	March	3,467	82	3,385	139	8,590	175	8,415	293	12,057	257	11,800	432
	April	3,452	74	3,378	146	8,488	140	8,348	342	11,940	214	11,726	488
	May	3,434	88	3,346	170	8,390	139	8,251	336	11,824	227	11,597	506
All Schemes
2023	May	94,869	8,703	86,166	9,590	81,747	7,513	74,234	9,011	176,616	16,216	160,400	18,601
	June	96,228	11,671	84,557	10,320	88,319	14,971	73,348	8,774	184,547	26,642	157,905	19,094
	July	98,781	10,950	87,831	8,398	96,005	15,126	80,879	7,439	194,786	26,076	168,710	15,837
	August	97,613	10,852	86,761	12,018	88,504	10,024	78,480	17,527	186,117	20,876	165,241	29,545
	September	94,176	9,272	84,904	12,718	79,726	7,769	71,957	16,817	173,902	17,041	156,861	29,535
	October	92,726	9,637	83,089	11,100	76,985	7,832	69,153	10,808	169,711	17,469	152,242	21,908
	November	92,726	10,999	81,727	10,997	76,720	9,071	67,649	9,338	169,446	20,070	149,376	20,335
	December	94,670	17,157	77,513	15,213	78,333	21,652	56,681	20,039	173,003	38,809	134,194	35,252

2024	January	97,458	10,654	86,804	7,865	79,806	8,874	70,932	7,402	177,264	19,528	157,736	15,267
	February	95,643	10,236	85,407	12,048	78,339	8,328	70,011	9,798	173,982	18,564	155,418	21,846
	March	94,711	8,349	86,362	9,283	78,685	8,093	70,592	7,745	173,396	16,442	156,954	17,028
	April	92,963	8,199	84,764	9,948	76,534	7,126	69,408	9,276	169,497	15,325	154,172	19,224
	May	92,479	10,758	81,721	11,242	75,927	9,008	66,919	9,615	168,406	19,766	148,640	20,857
¹ Flow analysis: inflows and outflows published in this table do not take account of inter-scheme activity within the Live Register. For example, if a claimant exhausts his/her entitlement to JB and opens a new JA claim this is counted as an outflow in JB and an inflow in JA.

Open in Excel: Live Register May 2024 Table 4 (XLS 42KB)

Table 5 Casual and Part-time Workers on the Live Register

Table 6 Persons on the Live Register classified by Nationality Grouping

Table 6 Persons on the Live Register classified by Nationality Grouping
		Nationality Grouping
		Non-Irish nationals
		United Kingdom	EU14_2020 excl. IRL ¹	EU15-EU27_2020¹	Other	Non-Irish nationals	Irish nationals	All Persons
2022	May	6,389	2,615	18,266	8,239	35,509	136,394	171,903
	June	6,638	2,705	18,066	15,475	42,884	143,935	186,819
	July	6,786	2,776	17,961	18,343	45,866	150,834	196,700
	August	6,722	2,723	17,376	20,255	47,076	150,049	197,125
	September	6,155	2,453	16,131	21,410	46,149	132,906	179,055
	October	5,995	2,420	15,938	25,268	49,621	129,934	179,555
	November	5,944	2,515	16,033	27,174	51,666	129,218	180,884
	December	6,037	2,563	16,325	29,562	54,487	130,155	184,642

2023	January	6,002	2,611	16,360	30,233	55,206	128,974	184,180
	February	5,952	2,624	16,149	30,589	55,314	127,562	182,876
	March	5,788	2,565	15,691	30,918	54,962	124,341	179,303
	April	5,752	2,600	15,533	30,700	54,585	123,995	178,580
	May	5,677	2,641	15,141	30,699	54,158	122,458	176,616
	June	5,892	2,781	15,213	31,338	55,224	129,323	184,547
	July	6,132	2,912	15,605	32,106	56,755	138,031	194,786
	August	5,823	2,869	15,029	32,191	55,912	130,205	186,117
	September	5,455	2,667	14,447	30,798	53,367	120,535	173,902
	October	5,401	2,608	14,240	30,283	52,532	117,179	169,711
	November	5,390	2,621	14,435	30,324	52,770	116,676	169,446
	December	5,430	2,779	14,858	30,990	54,057	118,946	173,003

2024	January	5,522	3,018	15,479	31,542	55,561	121,703	177,264
	February	5,434	2,977	15,189	31,154	54,754	119,228	173,982
	March	5,415	2,951	14,975	30,541	53,882	119,514	173,396
	April	5,324	2,936	14,761	29,494	52,515	116,982	169,497
	May	5,275	2,891	14,466	28,704	51,336	117,070	168,406
¹ In light of the United Kingdom (UK) leaving the European Union with effect from 1 February 2020, the EU classification has been updated.
EU14_2020 excl. IRL before February 2020 was formally classified as EU15 excl. IRL & UK.
EU15-EU27_2020 before February 2020 was formally classified as EU15 to EU28 States.

Open in Excel: Live Register May 2024 Table 6 (XLS 37KB)

Visit Table on PxStat

There were 38,180 persons availing of activation programmes in April 2024, representing an increase of 1,578 persons (4.3%) from the previous year

Data up to the end of April 2024 on the number of persons 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 Table A1 – Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes table.

Persons on activation programmes are not counted as part of the monthly Live Register.

Annex Table A1 Number of Persons availing of Activation Programmes

Annex Table A2 Live Register total classified by Recipient and Non-Recipient

19,115

people benefitting from the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) included in the Live Register figures for May 2024.

Source: CSO Ireland, Live Register May 2024

63.4% of those benefitting from TPD in May 2024 were female (12,112). Just over 90% (17,230) of all recipients were over 25 years old.

Table A3 Total persons benefitting from the Temporary Protection Directive (Ukraine)

Additional Live Register Information

Detailed tables relating to the monthly estimates of the number of persons on Live Register classified by NUTS2 and NUTS3 regions are included in the CSO Main Data Dissemination Service LRM17 on PxStat.

Table LRM13 on PxStat includes the Live Register occupational data which is sourced from information collected by the DSP on the most recent occupation of claimants when they sign on the Live Register.

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Table 1 Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
		Unadjusted Series			Seasonally Adjusted Series¹
	Month	Males	Females	All Persons	Males	Females	All Persons
2022	May	94,993	76,910	171,903	96,600	80,500	177,100
	June	97,228	89,591	186,819	97,100	87,100	184,200
	July	98,700	98,000	196,700	96,500	86,300	182,800
	August	99,036	98,089	197,125	96,900	87,800	184,700
	September	95,177	83,878	179,055	96,300	87,600	183,900
	October	95,732	83,823	179,555	97,800	87,600	185,400
	November	96,632	84,252	180,884	98,500	88,000	186,500
	December	98,710	85,932	184,642	98,700	87,800	186,500

2023	January	99,207	84,973	184,180	97,800	86,700	184,600
	February	98,084	84,792	182,876	97,000	86,500	183,500
	March	96,761	82,542	179,303	96,400	85,500	182,000
	April	95,749	82,831	178,580	96,400	84,800	181,200
	May	94,869	81,747	176,616	96,500	85,400	181,900
	June	96,228	88,319	184,547	96,200	85,200	181,300
	July	98,781	96,005	194,786	96,500	84,100	180,600
	August	97,613	88,504	186,117	95,600	78,400	174,100
	September	94,176	79,726	173,902	95,300	82,900	178,300
	October	92,726	76,985	169,711	94,700	81,500	176,300
	November	92,726	76,720	169,446	94,500	80,900	175,300
	December	94,670	78,333	173,003	94,600	80,500	175,100

2024	January	97,458	79,806	177,264	95,800	81,100	176,900
	February	95,643	78,339	173,982	94,600	80,300	174,800
	March	94,711	78,685	173,396	94,300	80,100	174,400
	April	92,963	76,534	169,497	94,000	79,800	173,800
	May	92,479	75,927	168,406	94,000	79,200	173,200
¹ Table contains revised figures

Table 3 Persons on the Live Register classified by duration of continuous registration
Duration	May 2023	April 2024	May 2024	Monthly change	Annual change	Under 25 years	25 years & over
Males
Less than one year	59,378	58,344	57,648	-696	-1,730	8,325	49,323
One year or more	35,491	34,619	34,831	+212	-660	2,386	32,445
Total	94,869	92,963	92,479	-484	-2,390	10,711	81,768

Females
Less than one year	54,111	50,063	49,403	-660	-4,708	6,621	42,782
One year or more	27,636	26,471	26,524	+53	-1,112	1,734	24,790
Total	81,747	76,534	75,927	-607	-5,820	8,355	67,572

All Persons
Less than one year	113,489	108,407	107,051	-1,356	-6,438	14,946	92,105
One year or more	63,127	61,090	61,355	+265	-1,772	4,120	57,235
Total	176,616	169,497	168,406	-1,091	-8,210	19,066	149,340

Table 5 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register
		Males	Monthly change	Females	Monthly change	All Persons	Monthly change
2022	May	11,142	-163	13,722	-195	24,864	-358
	June	11,121	-21	14,160	+438	25,281	+417
	July	11,167	+46	14,516	+356	25,683	+402
	August	11,114	-53	14,597	+81	25,711	+28
	September	10,930	-184	14,516	-81	25,446	-265
	October	10,973	+43	14,824	+308	25,797	+351
	November	11,132	+159	14,957	+133	26,089	+292
	December	11,403	+271	15,260	+303	26,663	+574

2023	January	11,286	-117	14,939	-321	26,225	-438
	February	11,405	+119	14,978	+39	26,383	+158
	March	11,435	+30	14,990	+12	26,425	+42
	April	11,410	-25	14,919	-71	26,329	-96
	May	11,387	-23	14,831	-88	26,218	-111
	June	11,392	+05	14,795	-36	26,187	-31
	July	11,245	-147	14,715	-80	25,960	-227
	August	11,028	-217	14,376	-339	25,404	-556
	September	10,784	-244	13,994	-382	24,778	-626
	October	10,889	+105	14,031	+37	24,920	+142
	November	11,084	+195	14,344	+313	25,428	+508
	December	11,196	+112	14,545	+201	25,741	+313

2024	January	10,946	-250	14,271	-274	25,217	-524
	February	11,031	+85	14,446	+175	25,477	+260
	March	10,954	-77	14,469	+23	25,423	-54
	April	10,768	-186	14,399	-70	25,167	-256
	May	10,534	-234	14,115	-284	24,649	-518

Annex Table A1 - Number of Persons availing of Activation Programmes⁵
	April 2023	March 2024	April 2024
Back to Work Schemes
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand	2,313	1,946	1,942
Short-term Enterprise Allowance¹	202	266	236
Total Back to Work payments	2,515	2,212	2,178

Other Activation Programmes
DSP Part-time Job Incentive	110	79	78
TÚS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011)	4,429	4,360	4,316
Work Placement Experience Programme²	627	1,038	1,070
Total Other Activation Programmes	5,166	5,477	5,464

Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors)	18,489	19,117	19,122

SOLAS (FÁS) Full Time Training for Unemployed People	5,384	6,530	6,590

Back to Education Courses
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)³	1,720	1,835	1,794
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)⁴	3,328	3,065	3,032
Total Back to Education Courses	5,048	4,900	4,826

Total Activation Programmes	36,602	38,236	38,180
¹ 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.
²This scheme was introduced in July 2021. The Work Placement Experience Programme (WPEP) is a 6-month, 30 hour per week voluntary work experience programme.
³ Starting from January 2019, VTOS figures for 2018 and 2019 are being supplied directly from the new SOLAS computer system PLSS. VTOS figures were estimated at 5,000 per month to December 2017.
⁴ BTEA figures include all schemes but participants from JA & JB are not entitled to BTEA during the summer holidays. In 2020 and 2021 some BTEA recipients were paid for the summer period.
⁵ Figures related to May 2022 onwards are recorded on a slightly different basis, in respect of the record date, and the exclusion of suspended payments.

Table A3 Total persons benefitting from the Temporary Protection Directive (Ukraine)
Category	February 2024	March 2024	April 2024	May 2024
Males
Under 25 years	1,027	1,014	975	934
25 years & over	7,031	6,783	6,455	6,069 ¹
Total	8,058	7,797	7,430	7,003¹

Females
Under 25 years	1,133	1,092	1,022	951
25 years & over	12,803	12,348	11,812	11,161
Total	13,936	13,440	12,834	12,112

All Persons
Under 25 years	2,160	2,106	1,997	1,885
25 years & over	19,834	19,131	18,267	17,230 ¹
Total	21,994	21,237	20,264	19,115 ¹
¹The total figure for people receiving TPD supports in May was revised up by 1 to 19,115 in line with revised data provided by the Department of Social Protection. The figures for Males, All Persons 25 years and over & Males 25 years and over have also been revised upwards by 1.

Live Register May 2024