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For more information on this release:
E-mail: labour@cso.ie Karen Desmond (+353) 21 453 5534 Sabrina Bowen (+353) 21 453 5151 Brian Cahill (+353) 21 453 5173
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-535X
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Live Register

August 2015

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
August 2014398,325379,300
July 2015363,628343,300
August 2015359,076341,400
   
Change in month-- 1,900
Change in year- 39,249-

Seasonally adjusted Live Register total decreases by 1,900 in August

Live Register Seasonally Adjusted
go to full release

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 1,900 (-0.6%) in August 2015, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 341,400. See table 2(a).

In unadjusted terms there were 359,076 people signing on the Live Register in August 2015.  This represents an annual decrease of 39,249 (-9.9%). See table 1(a).

Other features include:

  • On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register showed a monthly decrease of 1,400 (-0.7%) males in August 2015, while females decreased by 400 (-0.3%) over the same period. See table 2(a).
  • The number of male claimants decreased by 29,663 (-12.5%) to 208,399 in the year to August 2015, while female claimants decreased by 9,586 (-6.0%) to 150,677.  This compares with a decrease of 28,381 (-10.7%) to 238,062 for males, while female claimants decreased by 8,574 (-5.1%) to 160,263 in the year to August 2014. 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The Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) has been discontinued and has been replaced by the Monthly Unemployment release which is available here.

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
Aug 2013238472196808
Sept 2013219789188881
Oct 2013214111182401
Nov 2013211749179758
Dec 2013215790179621
Jan 2014218304181326
Feb 2014217573180496
Mar 2014211897179335
Apr 2014210334178225
May 2014205394183370
June 2014209955188858
July 2014215845188670
Aug 2014210727187598
Sept 2014191662178388
Oct 2014187738170892
Nov 2014186175166472
Dec 2014191316164796
Jan 2015193828164844
Feb 2015192348162776
Mar 2015188273160403
April 2015185063158488
May 2015183749161884
June 2015190032166488
July 2015198206165422
August 2015194807164269

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in August 2015 was 164,269.  The number of male long term claimants decreased by 19,325 (-15.6%) in the year to August 2015, while females decreased by 4,004 (-6.3%), giving an overall annual decrease of 23,329 (-12.4%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and graph above.

In August 2015, 54.3% (194,807) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for August 2014 was 52.9% (210,727).  The annual fall of 15,920 (-7.6%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 10,338 (-9.1%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 5,582 (-5.8%) in female short term claimants. See table 6.

 

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 67,488 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in August 2015, which represents 18.8% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 18.6% one year earlier when there were 74,126 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register.  In the year to August 2015 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 6,638 (-9.0%), with the number of males decreasing by 3,914 (-9.9%) and the number of females decreasing by 2,724 (-7.9%). See table 7.

 

 

Under 25 years25 years and over
August 201371945363335
August 201461494336831
August 201549865309211

 

Live Register age groups

In the year to August 2015 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 27,620 (-8.2%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 11,629 (-18.9%).  Annual decreases in persons aged under 25 have occurred in all months since July 2010, while the number of persons aged 25 and over have fallen annually in all months since July 2012.The percentage of persons aged under 25 on the Live Register now stands at 13.9% for August 2015, down from 15.4% in August 2014 and 16.5% in August 2013. See tables 1(b) and 1(c) and graph above.

 

Live Register new registrants

There were 22,497 new registrants on the Live Register in August 2015, consisting of 7,602 Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) claims, 13,808 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) claims and 1,087 ‘Other Registrants’.  Males accounted for 53.7% (12,070) and females 46.3% (10,427) of all new registrants.  On average 3,018 male and 2,607 female new registrants joined the Live Register each week of the month.  The difference between the number of new registrants on the Live Register and the change in the total number on the Live Register is accounted for by closed claims and movements between schemes. See table 3.

 

Live Register last occupation held

Craft and related (18.3%) remained the largest occupational group1 on the Live Register in August, despite the fact that the number in the group fell over the year by 11,222 (-14.6%) to 65,705.  The second largest annual percentage decrease was in the Associate professional and technical (-12.5%). The two smallest occupational groups in August were the Associate professional and technical and the Managers and administrators groups which accounted for 2.8% and 4.3% of the Live Register respectively. See table 5 and graph below.

1 While the ‘No Occupation’ group is excluded from the analysis its subtotals are included in the relevant calculations presented in the text.

Broad Occupational GroupAugust 2013August 2014August 2015
1174491642515362
2281382557823595
3127661167510210
4448234169639532
5908537692765705
6521094911545144
7483244457439112
8693086333356330
9491954622342376
10223152277921710
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 33,146 (-10.8%) brought the total number of JA claimants to 273,707 in August 2015, while JB claimants decreased to 50,878 (-8.0%) over the same period.  As a result JA claimants account for 76.2% of all persons on the Live Register in August 2015 compared with 77.0% 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 Dublin region (-11.0%) followed by the Mid-West and South-West regions at (-10.1%) and West region at (-9.8%). See table 4.
  • In August, Irish nationals accounted for 83.8% (300,770) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 58,306 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU28 States (32,216), followed by the UK (13,264). See table 8.


Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of July 2015 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 – Live Register Activation Programmes table.

There were 67,246 people availing of these programmes in July 2015, which is an increase of 2,630 persons (+4.1%) from the previous year, when there were 64,616 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
CategoryAugust 2014July 2015August 2015Monthly changeAnnual change
     
Males  
    JB Claims24,20122,46621,700-766-2,501
    JA Applications201,263175,951174,875-1,076-26,388
    Other Registrants12,59811,86911,824-45-774
    Total238,062210,286208,399-1,887-29,663
     
Females     
    JB Claims31,09331,26929,178-2,091-1,915
    JA Applications105,59099,23098,832-398-6,758
    Other Registrants23,58022,84322,667-176-913
    Total160,263153,342150,677-2,665-9,586
     
All Persons     
    JB Claims55,29453,73550,878-2,857-4,416
    JA Applications306,853275,181273,707-1,474-33,146
    Other Registrants36,17834,71234,491-221-1,687
    Total398,325363,628359,076-4,552-39,249
      
Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategoryAugust 2014July 2015August 2015Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims1,3771,3801,348-32-29
    JA Applications33,95927,34027,107-233-6,852
    Other Registrants100109106-3+6
    Total35,43628,82928,561-268-6,875
      
Females     
    JB Claims1,8461,6721,648-24-198
    JA Applications24,03119,66619,505-161-4,526
    Other Registrants181149151+2-30
    Total26,05821,48721,304-183-4,754
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims3,2233,0522,996-56-227
    JA Applications57,99047,00646,612-394-11,378
    Other Registrants281258257-1-24
    Total61,49450,31649,865-451-11,629
      
Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategoryAugust 2014July 2015August 2015Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims22,82421,08620,352-734-2,472
    JA Applications167,304148,611147,768-843-19,536
    Other Registrants12,49811,76011,718-42-780
    Total202,626181,457179,838-1,619-22,788
      
Females     
    JB Claims29,24729,59727,530-2,067-1,717
    JA Applications81,55979,56479,327-237-2,232
    Other Registrants23,39922,69422,516-178-883
    Total134,205131,855129,373-2,482-4,832
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims52,07150,68347,882-2,801-4,189
    JA Applications248,863228,175227,095-1,080-21,768
    Other Registrants35,89734,45434,234-220-1,663
    Total336,831313,312309,211-4,101-27,620
      
Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
  Unadjusted Series Seasonally Adjusted Series1
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
         
2013August266,400168,800435,300 258,700156,300415,000
 September254,000154,600408,700 257,400156,000413,400
 October246,800149,800396,500 254,600155,000409,700
 November243,500148,000391,500 252,100154,600406,700
 December245,700149,700395,400 249,800153,800403,600
      
2014January248,700150,900399,600 247,600153,500401,200
 February247,400150,700398,100 245,800153,000398,800
 March243,200148,000391,200 243,900152,900396,900
 April239,500149,000388,600 240,900152,100393,000
 May240,400148,400388,800 239,400151,200390,600
 June242,700156,100398,800 236,300150,100386,400
 July241,300163,200404,500 233,800148,800382,600
 August238,100160,300398,300 231,200148,100379,300
 September224,800145,200370,100 227,800146,700374,600
 October217,800140,900358,600 225,000146,000370,900
 November214,700137,900352,600 222,500144,400366,900
 December216,300139,800356,100 219,900143,600363,600
      
2015January218,700140,000358,700 217,500142,500360,000
 February215,900139,200355,100 214,500141,400356,000
 March212,000136,600348,700 211,800139,700351,500
 April208,300135,200343,600 210,100139,700349,800
 May208,700137,000345,600 207,700139,600347,300
 June211,400145,100356,500 205,900139,300345,200
 July210,300153,300363,600 203,900139,400343,300
 August208,400150,700359,100 202,500139,000341,400
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
         
2013August41,80030,10071,900 38,80026,50065,300
 September38,90027,30066,200 38,60026,50065,100
 October37,00025,60062,600 38,30026,30064,600
 November35,50024,20059,700 37,60026,00063,700
 December35,30023,80059,100 37,20025,80062,900
         
2014January36,10024,40060,500 36,70025,40062,100
 February36,00024,20060,200 36,30025,10061,400
 March35,30023,60058,900 35,90025,10061,000
 April34,20023,10057,200 35,30024,50059,700
 May34,90023,60058,500 34,90023,90058,800
 June36,00025,40061,400 34,00023,60057,600
 July35,90026,20062,100 33,40023,10056,600
 August35,40026,10061,500 32,90022,90055,700
 September32,10023,00055,100 32,00022,30054,300
 October30,10021,10051,200 31,20021,80053,000
 November29,00019,90048,900 30,80021,40052,200
 December28,60019,30047,900 30,20021,00051,200
         
2015January29,30020,00049,300 29,80020,80050,500
 February28,80019,70048,500 29,10020,40049,500
 March28,00019,00047,100 28,50020,00048,600
 April27,30018,50045,900 28,20019,80047,900
 May27,80019,30047,100 27,60019,60047,200
 June28,80020,70049,500 27,30019,20046,400
 July28,80021,50050,300 26,80019,00045,800
 August28,60021,30049,900 26,50018,70045,200
1 Table contains revised figures.
Table 2(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
  Unadjusted Series Seasonally Adjusted Series1
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
         
2013August224,600138,700363,300 219,900129,800349,700
 September215,200127,300342,500 218,800129,500348,300
 October209,800124,100333,900 216,400128,700345,100
 November208,000123,700331,800 214,500128,600343,100
 December210,400125,900336,300 212,700128,000340,700
         
2014January212,600126,500339,100 210,900128,100339,000
 February211,400126,500337,800 209,500127,900337,400
 March207,900124,400332,400 208,000127,800335,800
 April205,400125,900331,300 205,600127,600333,200
 May205,500124,800330,200 204,600127,200331,800
 June206,700130,700337,400 202,300126,500328,800
 July205,400137,000342,400 200,300125,700326,000
 August202,600134,200336,800 198,300125,200323,600
 September192,700122,200314,900 195,900124,400320,300
 October187,700119,800307,400 193,700124,200317,900
 November185,700118,000303,800 191,700123,000314,700
 December187,800120,400308,200 189,800122,600312,400
         
2015January189,300120,000309,400 187,800121,700309,500
 February187,100119,500306,600 185,400121,100306,500
 March184,000117,600301,600 183,300119,700303,000
 April181,000116,700297,700 181,900120,000301,900
 May180,900117,600298,500 180,000120,100300,100
 June182,600124,400307,000 178,700120,200298,800
 July181,500131,900313,300 177,100120,400297,500
 August179,800129,400309,200 176,000120,300296,300
1 Table contains revised figures.
Table 3 Summary of flows1 on and off the Live Register
   Males Females
  Number of Weeks New Regis-trations Average Weekly Change  New Regis-trations Average Weekly Change
  Live RegisterOutflow (derived) Live RegisterOutflow (derived)
   
JB Claims           
2014August524,2015,0316,454-285 31,0935,978     8,674-539
 September422,1264,2476,322-519 24,1504,714     11,657-1,736
 October522,1296,3046,301+1 23,9816,242     6,411-34
 November422,5655,8445,408+109 23,5336,522     6,970-112
 December424,1094,8453,301+386 25,5115,300     3,322+495
            
2015January526,0028,7826,889+379 25,488     8,8408,863-5
 February425,5965,3965,802-102 25,249     5,9776,216-60
 March424,6994,6435,540-224 23,874     4,1915,566-344
 April 423,5635,1406,276-284 23,356     7,5928,110-130
 May522,7195,2576,101-169 22,815     5,2255,766-108
 June422,4984,3514,572-55 25,296     6,5554,074+620
 July522,4665,8055,837-6 31,269     11,3775,404+1,195
 August421,7003,6084,374-192 29,178     3,9946,085-523
            
JA Applications           
2014August5201,26311,33913,119-356 105,5908,0828,100-4
 September4190,33810,45621,381-2,731 98,2727,37614,694-1,830
 October5183,34912,58519,574-1,398 94,1848,18112,269-818
 November4179,94010,17613,585-852 91,8726,3468,658-578
 December4179,9987,8257,767+15 91,6484,7444,968-56
            
2015January5180,50011,06610,564+100 92,0117,2676,904+73
 February4178,0778,88911,312-606 91,5216,0636,553-123
 March4175,2247,92310,776-713 90,4985,2856,308-256
 April 4172,6627,68010,242-641 89,6495,3996,248-212
 May5173,86710,4739,268+241 91,8527,3195,116+441
 June4176,9019,3746,340+759 97,4119,4413,882+1,390
 July5175,95110,92211,872-190 99,2309,1677,348+364
 August4174,8758,0949,170-269 98,8325,7146,112-100
            
Other Registrants           
2014August512,598566618-10 23,5801,0641,285-44
 September412,355500743-61 22,8099241,695-193
 October512,294667728-12 22,6931,2601,376-23
 November412,221577650-18 22,5161,0601,237-44
 December412,232442431+3 22,614813715+25
            
2015January512,176604660-11 22,4951,1861,305-24
 February412,212485449+9 22,469910936-7
 March412,112393493-25 22,269660860-50
 April 412,079410443-8 22,2421,0331,060-7
 May512,072472479-1 22,308862796+13
 June412,015407464-14 22,399971880+23
 July511,869569715-29 22,8431,6341,190+89
 August411,824368413-11 22,667719895-44
            
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. 
Table 4 Persons on the Live Register classified by region
NUTS2 and NUTS3 Regions1August 2014July 2015August 2015Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
        
Males       
      Border, Midland and Western73,60165,24564,777-468-8,8249,28255,495
      Border33,76629,85229,656-196-4,1104,37925,277
      Midland18,71316,71416,493-221-2,2202,47914,014
      West21,12218,67918,628-51-2,4942,42416,204
        
      Southern and Eastern164,461145,041143,622-1,419-20,83919,279124,343
      Dublin60,31252,45152,051-400-8,2617,00745,044
      Mid-East22,48619,92519,740-185-2,7462,78116,959
      Mid-West19,68317,35517,084-271-2,5992,39014,694
      South-East31,45528,16727,878-289-3,5773,93023,948
      South-West30,52527,14326,869-274-3,6563,17123,698
      Total238,062210,286208,399-1,887-29,66328,561179,838
        
Females       
      Border, Midland and Western51,77649,46048,790-670-2,9867,33341,457
      Border23,11722,29621,994-302-1,1233,44818,546
      Midland13,39412,74312,618-125-7762,08610,532
      West15,26514,42114,178-243-1,0871,79912,379
        
      Southern and Eastern108,487103,882101,887-1,995-6,60013,97187,916
      Dublin37,23935,27234,801-471-2,4384,66730,134
      Mid-East16,26915,73415,469-265-8002,08113,388
      Mid-West13,51112,98512,758-227-7531,82910,929
      South-East20,89220,29819,778-520-1,1143,08416,694
      South-West20,57619,59319,081-512-1,4952,31016,771
      Total160,263153,342150,677-2,665-9,58621,304129,373
        
All Persons       
      Border, Midland and Western125,377114,705113,567-1,138-11,81016,61596,952
      Border56,88352,14851,650-498-5,2337,82743,823
      Midland32,10729,45729,111-346-2,9964,56524,546
      West36,38733,10032,806-294-3,5814,22328,583
        
      Southern and Eastern272,948248,923245,509-3,414-27,43933,250212,259
      Dublin97,55187,72386,852-871-10,69911,67475,178
      Mid-East38,75535,65935,209-450-3,5464,86230,347
      Mid-West33,19430,34029,842-498-3,3524,21925,623
      South-East52,34748,46547,656-809-4,6917,01440,642
      South-West51,10146,73645,950-786-5,1515,48140,469
      Total398,325363,628359,076-4,552-39,24949,865309,211
1 The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes.
Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
 August 2014July 2015August 2015Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Broad occupational group
        
Males       
Managers and administrators9,3768,7168,707-9-6692738,434
Professional10,9239,7549,736-18-1,1877808,956
Associate professional and technical 6,7115,8165,783-33-9287825,001
Clerical and secretarial10,94810,12910,030-99-9181,1218,909
Craft and related 69,74259,45458,781-673-10,9614,10754,674
Personal and protective service16,24514,55614,358-198-1,8871,61812,740
Sales17,44715,19315,043-150-2,4043,90711,136
Plant and machine operatives47,63842,05441,556-498-6,0825,02636,530
Other occupation35,21631,80631,526-280-3,6905,66225,864
No occupation113,81612,80812,879+71-9375,2857,594
Total 238,062210,286208,399-1,887-29,66328,561179,838
        
Females       
Managers and administrators7,0496,6826,655-27-3941576,498
Professional14,65514,15813,859-299-79699712,862
Associate professional and technical 4,9644,4334,427-6-5374154,012
Clerical and secretarial30,74830,77929,502-1,277-1,2461,49828,004
Craft and related 7,1856,9956,924-71-2618706,054
Personal and protective service32,87031,22730,786-441-2,0844,40026,386
Sales27,12724,32724,069-258-3,0584,64619,423
Plant and machine operatives15,69514,97814,774-204-9212,07912,695
Other occupation11,00710,96710,850-117-1572,8168,034
No occupation18,9638,7968,831+35-1323,4265,405
Total160,263153,342150,677-2,665-9,58621,304129,373
        
All Persons       
Managers and administrators16,42515,39815,362-36-1,06343014,932
Professional25,57823,91223,595-317-1,9831,77721,818
Associate professional and technical 11,67510,24910,210-39-1,4651,1979,013
Clerical and secretarial41,69640,90839,532-1,376-2,1642,61936,913
Craft and related 76,92766,44965,705-744-11,2224,97760,728
Personal and protective service49,11545,78345,144-639-3,9716,01839,126
Sales44,57439,52039,112-408-5,4628,55330,559
Plant and machine operatives63,33357,03256,330-702-7,0037,10549,225
Other occupation46,22342,77342,376-397-3,8478,47833,898
No occupation122,77921,60421,710+106-1,0698,71112,999
Total 398,325363,628359,076-4,552-39,24949,865309,211
        
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
 August 2014July 2015August 2015Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Duration
        
Males
   Less than one year113,924104,565103,586-979-10,33818,37185,215
   One year or more124,138105,721104,813-908-19,32510,19094,623
   Total238,062210,286208,399-1,887-29,66328,561179,838
       
Females       
   Less than one year96,80393,64191,221-2,420-5,58214,81576,406
   One year or more63,46059,70159,456-245-4,0046,48952,967
   Total160,263153,342150,677-2,665-9,58621,304129,373
       
All Persons       
   Less than one year210,727198,206194,807-3,399-15,92033,186161,621
   One year or more187,598165,422164,269-1,153-23,32916,679147,590
   Total398,325363,628359,076-4,552-39,24949,865309,211
        
Table 7 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register
   MalesMonthly change FemalesMonthly change All PersonsMonthly change
         
2013August 46,259-1,333 38,846-981 85,105-2,314
 September 44,676-1,583 37,619-1,227 82,295-2,810
 October 43,945-731 37,374-245 81,319-976
 November 43,911-34 37,578+204 81,489+170
 December 43,927+16 37,455-123 81,382-107
          
2014January 43,706-221 37,252-203 80,958-424
 February 43,860+154 37,344+92 81,204+246
 March 43,032-828 36,779-565 79,811-1,393
 April 42,207-825 36,158-621 78,365-1,446
 May 41,310-897 35,452-706 76,762-1,603
 June 41,083-227 35,478+26 76,561-201
 July 40,562-521 35,168-310 75,730-831
 August 39,709-853 34,417-751 74,126-1,604
 September 38,481-1,228 33,263-1,154 71,744-2,382
 October 38,275-206 33,177-86 71,452-292
 November 38,714+439 33,563+386 72,277+825
 December 38,681-33 33,681+118 72,362+85
          
2015January 38,549-132 33,536-145 72,085-277
 February 38,443-106 33,712+176 72,155+70
 March 38,119-324 33,285-427 71,404-751
 April 37,401-718 32,780-505 70,181-1,223
 May 36,899-502 32,360-420 69,259-922
 June 36,854-45 32,611+251 69,465+206
 July 36,457-397 32,342-269 68,799-666
 August 35,795-662 31,693-649 67,488-1,311
Table 8 Persons on the Live Register classified by nationality grouping 
  Nationality grouping 
  Non-Irish nationals     
   EU15 excl. IRL & UKEU15 to EU28 States     
United Kingdom  Non-Irish nationalsIrish nationalsAll Persons
  Other  
          
2013August16,5153,67939,17513,083 72,452362,828435,280
 September15,5433,53637,84212,320 69,241339,429408,670
 October15,1453,49037,27511,627 67,537328,975396,512
 November15,0993,66037,74811,386 67,893323,614391,507
 December15,2013,71138,22111,344 68,477326,934395,411
         
2014January15,2533,83039,26311,355 69,701329,929399,630
 February15,1473,83639,33711,372 69,692328,377398,069
 March14,9183,65038,58711,267 68,422322,810391,232
 April 14,7573,63837,86711,133 67,395321,164388,559
 May14,6823,64837,09211,388 66,810321,954388,764
 June15,0343,75136,77211,793 67,350331,463398,813
 July15,1733,71236,39911,656 66,940337,575404,515
 August14,9853,67435,44511,280 65,384332,941398,325
 September14,0753,49433,84310,099 61,511308,539370,050
 October13,6873,46033,3249,420 59,891298,739358,630
 November13,5493,64133,5789,133 59,901292,746352,647
 December13,6323,64434,0909,074 60,440295,672356,112
        
2015January13,6653,68835,2198,916 61,488297,184358,672
 February13,5373,60135,1668,706 61,010294,114355,124
 March13,3143,38934,4468,710 59,859288,817348,676
 April 13,0543,30633,6708,671 58,701284,850343,551
 May13,0413,30033,1388,920 58,399287,234345,633
 June13,3513,38133,1959,419 59,346297,174356,520
 July13,4633,41832,6599,433 58,973304,655363,628
 August13,2643,39532,2169,431 58,306300,770359,076
Table 9 Live Register Compositional Analysis
 August 2012August 2013August 2014August 2015
  % of total % of total % of total % of total
 NumberNumberNumberNumber
Sex        
Males286,62562.8266,44361.2238,06259.8208,39958.0
Females169,63137.2168,83738.8160,26340.2150,67742.0
Total456,256100.0435,280100.0398,325100.0359,076100.0
        
Age        
Under 25 years80,35117.671,94516.561,49415.449,86513.9
25 years and over375,90582.4363,33583.5336,83184.6309,21186.1
Total456,256100.0435,280100.0398,325100.0359,076100.0
        
Scheme        
JB Claims94,05420.673,82617.055,29413.950,87814.2
JA Applications327,78671.8326,60175.0306,85377.0273,70776.2
Other Registrants34,4167.534,8538.036,1789.134,4919.6
Total456,256100.0435,280100.0398,325100.0359,076100.0
         
Duration of Continuous Registration        
Less than one year254,74355.8238,47254.8210,72752.9194,80754.3
One year or more201,51344.2196,80845.2187,59847.1164,26945.7
Total456,256100.0435,280100.0398,325100.0359,076100.0
         
Nationality Grouping        
Irish Nationals378,50783.0362,82883.4332,94183.6300,77083.8
Non-Irish Nationals77,74917.072,45216.665,38416.458,30616.2
Total456,256100.0435,280100.0398,325100.0359,076100.0
         
NUTS2 Regions1        
Border, Midland and Western142,21731.2136,58931.4125,37731.5113,56731.6
Southern and Eastern314,03968.8298,69168.6272,94868.5245,50968.4
Total456,256100.0435,280100.0398,325100.0359,076100.0
         
Last Held Occupation        
Managers and administrators17,1623.817,4494.016,4254.115,3624.3
Professional29,2266.428,1386.525,5786.423,5956.6
Associate professional and technical13,2552.912,7662.911,6752.910,2102.8
Clerical and secretarial46,70310.244,82310.341,69610.539,53211.0
Craft and related 103,28522.690,85320.976,92719.365,70518.3
Personal and protective service52,75711.652,10912.049,11512.345,14412.6
Sales50,15611.048,32411.144,57411.239,11210.9
Plant and machine operatives71,48315.769,30815.963,33315.956,33015.7
Other occupation51,18911.249,19511.346,22311.642,37611.8
No occupation221,0404.622,3155.122,7795.721,7106.0
Total456,256100.0435,280100.0398,325100.0359,076100.0
         
Casual Status        
No casual and part-time work369,10280.9350,17580.4324,19981.4291,58881.2
Casual and part-time work87,15419.185,10519.674,12618.667,48818.8
Total456,256100.0435,280100.0398,325100.0359,076100.0
         
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.
Live Register Activation Programmes    
 July 2014June 2015July 2015
Back to Work Schemes    
Back to Work allowance scheme - Employee strand1500
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand10,64311,62111,739
Short-term Enterprise Allowance2 583490486
Total Back to Work payments 11,23112,11112,225
    
Other Activation Programmes    
DSP Part-time Job Incentive303378358
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) 7,4418,0018,014
JobBridge (2011)6,3335,3384,969
Gateway (2013)34462,2082,258
Total Other Activation Programmes14,52315,92515,599
        
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors) 23,11123,11222,913
    
FAS (Solas) Full Time Training for Unemployed People4 7,4037,5026,533
        
Back to Education Courses    
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)5N/AN/AN/A
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)63,3486,4184,976
Total Back to Education Courses 8,34811,4189,976
        
Total Activation Programmes64,61670,06867,246
    
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 Gateway Scheme included from December 2013.   
4 Specific Skills Training/Local Training initiative/Traineeship/Return to Work. 
5 VTOS figures are estimated at 5,000 each year.
6 BTEA figures include all schemes but participants from JA & JB are not entitled to BTEA during the summer holidays.

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.

 

Reference Period

The reference periods for the Live Register results are as follows: 

August 2015 – 31st July to 27th August 2015
August 2014 – 26th July to 25th August 2014

From May 2015 (reference period) the reference period ends on the last Thursday in the month, previously the reference period ended on 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 release, 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 claim).

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 data is sourced from information collected by the Department of Social Protection.  The aggregate of new registrations for each month is used in conjunction with the net change over the same period to calculate the outflow from the register.  A new registration is defined as anybody on the Live Register in a particular month who was not on it the previous month.  Inflows and outflows published in this release 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.

 

 

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 Office 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 will be released on the CSO website through the CSO StatBank one day after 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, to see these please click here.

 

Casual and part-time workers

The casual and part-time workers’ figure is based on data supplied by the Department of Social Protection.  People may apply for Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Allowance if they only work for part of a week and be included on the Live Register.

 

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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