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For more information on this release:
E-mail: labour@cso.ie Martina O'Callaghan (+353) 21 453 5491 Catalina Gonzalez (+353) 21 453 5163
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-535X
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Live Register

February 2016

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
February 2015355,124356,300
January 2016321,802323,700
February 2016319,723321,000
   
Change in month-- 2,700
Change in year- 35,401-

Seasonally adjusted Live Register total decreases by 2,700 in February

Live Register Seasonally Adjusted
go to full release

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 2,700 (-0.8%) in February 2016, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 321,000. See table 2(a).

In unadjusted terms there were 319,723 people signing on the Live Register in February 2016. This represents an annual decrease of 35,401 (-10.0%). See table 1(a).

Other features include:

  • On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register showed a monthly decrease of 1,800 (-0.9%) males in February 2016, while females decreased by 800 (-0.6%) over the same period. See table 2(a).

  • The number of male claimants decreased by 25,637 (-11.9%) to 190,248 in the year to February 2016, while female claimants decreased by 9,764 (-7.0%) to 129,475.  This compares with a decrease of 31,496 (-12.7%) to 215,885 for males, while female claimants decreased by 11,449 (-7.6%) to 139,239 in the year to February 2015. 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The Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) has been discontinued and has been replaced by the Monthly Unemployment release which is available here.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
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
Aug 2015194807164269
Sept 2015175947156854
Oct 2015171191149603
Nov 2015169793146793
Dec 2015175442146174
Jan 2016176347145455
Feb 2016176245143478

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in February 2016 was 143,478.  The number of male long term claimants decreased by 15,373 (-14.4%) in the year to February 2016, while females decreased by 3,925 (-7.0%), giving an overall annual decrease of 19,298 (-11.9%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and figure 2.

In February 2016, 55.1% (176,245) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for February 2015 was 54.2% (192,348).  The annual fall of 16,103 (-8.4%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 10,264 (-9.4%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 5,839 (-7.0%) in female short term claimants. See table 6.

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 65,980 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in February 2016, which represents 20.6% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 20.3% one year earlier when there were 72,155 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register.  In the year to February 2016 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 6,175 (-8.6%), with the number of males decreasing by 3,615 (-9.4%) and the number of females decreasing by 2,560 (-7.6%). See table 7.

 

Under 25 years25 years and over
February 201460232337837
February 201548524306600
February 201639784279939

Live Register age groups

In the year to February 2016 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 26,661 (-8.7%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 8,740 (-18.0%).  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 12.4% for February 2016, down from 13.7% in February 2015 and 15.1% in February 2014. See tables 1(b) and 1(c) and figure 3.

Live Register new registrants

There were 25,889 new registrants on the Live Register in February 2016, consisting of 10,764 Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) claims, 13,962 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) claims and 1,163 ‘Other Registrants’.  Males accounted for 53.4% (13,825) and females 46.6% (12,064) of all new registrants.  On average 3,456 male and 3,016 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 (19.2%) remained the largest occupational group1 on the Live Register in February, despite the fact that the number in the group fell over the year by 9,364 (-13.2%) to 61,540.  The second largest annual percentage decrease was in the Plant and machine operatives group, which decreased by 11.2%. The two smallest occupational groups in February were the Associate professional and technical and the Managers and administrators groups which accounted for 2.9% and 4.5% of the Live Register respectively. See table 5 and figure 4.

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 GroupFebruary 2014February 2015February 2016
1167861551914393
2217321933617455
31125498859182
4372163337930696
5836367090461540
6503614609942036
7441113889734980
8664275865152098
9459554258138410
10205911987318933
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 27,559 (-10.2%) brought the total number of JA claimants to 242,039 in February 2016, while JB claimants decreased to 45,550 (-10.4%) over the same period.  As a result JA claimants account for 75.7% of all persons on the Live Register in February 2016 compared with 75.9% 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 South-West region (-11.2%) followed by the Mid-East region (-10.8%). See table 4.

  • In February, Irish nationals accounted for 82.8% (264,577) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 55,146 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU28 States (31,590), followed by the UK (12,028). See table 8.

Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of January 2016 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 – Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes table

There were 79,722 people availing of these programmes in January 2016, which is a decrease of 7,128 persons (-8.2%) from the previous year, when there were 86,850 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
CategoryFebruary 2015January 2016February 2016Monthly changeAnnual change
     
Males  
    JB Claims25,59622,67022,711+41-2,885
    JA Applications178,077157,877156,481-1,396-21,596
    Other Registrants12,21211,20911,056-153-1,156
    Total215,885191,756190,248-1,508-25,637
     
Females     
    JB Claims25,24922,83222,839+7-2,410
    JA Applications91,52186,00085,558-442-5,963
    Other Registrants22,46921,21421,078-136-1,391
    Total139,239130,046129,475-571-9,764
     
All Persons     
    JB Claims50,84545,50245,550+48-5,295
    JA Applications269,598243,877242,039-1,838-27,559
    Other Registrants34,68132,42332,134-289-2,547
    Total355,124321,802319,723-2,079-35,401
      
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 1(a) (XLS 32KB)
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Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategoryFebruary 2015January 2016February 2016Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims1,5551,4331,456+23-99
    JA Applications27,14422,20322,131-72-5,013
    Other Registrants12310795-12-28
    Total28,82223,74323,682-61-5,140
      
Females     
    JB Claims1,5511,2861,303+17-248
    JA Applications17,99514,65314,680+27-3,315
    Other Registrants156124119-5-37
    Total19,70216,06316,102+39-3,600
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims3,1062,7192,759+40-347
    JA Applications45,13936,85636,811-45-8,328
    Other Registrants279231214-17-65
    Total48,52439,80639,784-22-8,740
      
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 1(b) (XLS 32KB)
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Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategoryFebruary 2015January 2016February 2016Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims24,04121,23721,255+18-2,786
    JA Applications150,933135,674134,350-1,324-16,583
    Other Registrants12,08911,10210,961-141-1,128
    Total187,063168,013166,566-1,447-20,497
      
Females     
    JB Claims23,69821,54621,536-10-2,162
    JA Applications73,52671,34770,878-469-2,648
    Other Registrants22,31321,09020,959-131-1,354
    Total119,537113,983113,373-610-6,164
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims47,73942,78342,791+8-4,948
    JA Applications224,459207,021205,228-1,793-19,231
    Other Registrants34,40232,19231,920-272-2,482
    Total306,600281,996279,939-2,057-26,661
      
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 1(c) (XLS 31KB)
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Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
  Unadjusted Series Seasonally Adjusted Series1
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
         
2014February247,400150,700398,100 245,900153,100399,100
 March243,200148,000391,200 244,000153,000397,100
April239,500149,000388,600 240,800152,200393,000
 May240,400148,400388,800 239,600151,300390,900
 June242,700156,100398,800 236,300149,800386,000
 July241,300163,200404,500 233,600148,600382,200
 August238,100160,300398,300 230,900147,800378,700
 September224,800145,200370,100 227,600146,700374,300
 October217,800140,900358,600 225,100145,900371,000
 November214,700137,900352,600 222,600144,600367,200
 December216,300139,800356,100 219,900143,700363,600
         
2015January218,700140,000358,700 217,800142,700360,400
 February215,900139,200355,100 214,600141,700356,300
March212,000136,600348,700 211,900139,800351,800
 April208,300135,200343,600 210,100139,900350,000
 May208,700137,000345,600 207,800139,700347,500
 June211,400145,100356,500 205,900139,100345,000
 July210,300153,300363,600 203,700139,000342,800
 August208,400150,700359,100 202,100138,600340,600
 September197,500135,300332,800 200,000136,900336,900
 October189,700131,100320,800 196,200135,900332,200
 November188,200128,400316,600 195,100134,900330,000
 December191,200130,400321,600 194,200134,000328,200
        
2016January191,800130,000321,800 190,900132,700323,700
 February190,200129,500319,700 189,100131,900321,000
1 Table contains revised figures.
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 2(a) (XLS 34KB)
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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
         
2014February36,00024,20060,200 36,30025,10061,500
 March35,30023,60058,900 35,90025,10061,100
 April34,20023,10057,200 35,30024,50059,700
 May34,90023,60058,500 34,90023,90058,900
 June36,00025,40061,400 34,00023,50057,500
 July35,90026,20062,100 33,30023,10056,400
 August35,40026,10061,500 32,70022,80055,500
 September32,10023,00055,100 31,90022,30054,100
 October30,10021,10051,200 31,30021,80053,100
 November29,00019,90048,900 30,90021,50052,400
 December28,60019,30047,900 30,20021,10051,300
         
2015January29,30020,00049,300 29,80020,90050,700
 February28,80019,70048,500 29,10020,40049,500
 March28,00019,00047,100 28,60020,00048,600
 April27,30018,50045,900 28,20019,70047,900
 May27,80019,30047,100 27,70019,60047,200
 June28,80020,70049,500 27,20019,10046,300
 July28,80021,50050,300 26,70018,90045,600
 August28,60021,30049,900 26,40018,60044,900
 September26,30018,80045,200 26,10018,20044,300
 October24,10017,00041,100 25,10017,60042,800
 November23,30016,10039,400 24,80017,40042,300
 December23,20015,60038,700 24,50017,10041,600
         
2016January23,70016,10039,800 24,20016,80041,000
 February23,70016,10039,800 23,90016,70040,600
1 Table contains revised figures.     
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 2(b) (XLS 33KB)
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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
         
2014February211,400126,500337,800 209,600128,000337,600
 March207,900124,400332,400 208,100127,900336,000
April205,400125,900331,300 205,600127,700333,300
 May205,500124,800330,200 204,700127,300332,000
 June206,700130,700337,400 202,300126,200328,500
 July205,400137,000342,400 200,300125,500325,800
 August202,600134,200336,800 198,100125,100323,200
 September192,700122,200314,900 195,700124,500320,200
 October187,700119,800307,400 193,800124,100317,900
 November185,700118,000303,800 191,700123,100314,800
 December187,800120,400308,200 189,700122,600312,300
         
2015January189,300120,000309,400 187,900121,800309,700
 February187,100119,500306,600 185,500121,300306,800
March184,000117,600301,600 183,400119,800303,200
 April181,000116,700297,700 181,900120,100302,100
 May180,900117,600298,500 180,100120,100300,300
 June182,600124,400307,000 178,700120,000298,700
 July181,500131,900313,300 177,000120,100297,100
 August179,800129,400309,200 175,700120,000295,700
 September171,200116,400287,600 173,900118,700292,600
 October165,600114,100279,700 171,100118,300289,400
 November164,900112,300277,200 170,300117,400287,700
 December168,100114,800282,900 169,700116,900286,600
         
2016January168,000114,000282,000 166,800115,900282,700
 February166,600113,400279,900 165,200115,200280,400
1 Table contains revised figures.
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 2(c) (XLS 34KB)
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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           
2015February425,5965,3965,802-102 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
 September419,4803,9456,165-555 21,441     4,23511,972-1,934
 October519,1625,2815,599-64 21,719     5,9725,694+56
 November419,6875,0164,491+131 20,993     5,7066,432-182
 December521,6065,3083,389+384 23,035     5,3393,297+408
            
2016January422,6706,8815,817+266 22,832     7,2787,481-51
 February422,7115,1115,070+10 22,839     5,6535,646+2
            
JA Applications           
2015February4178,0778,88911,312-606 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
 September4166,5969,33817,617-2,070 92,1706,69613,358-1,666
 October5159,19810,86718,265-1,480 87,9057,44111,706-853
 November4157,2259,11311,086-493 86,1605,8147,559-436
 December5158,2918,2407,174+213 85,9144,6674,913-49
            
2016January4157,8778,9329,346-104 86,0006,0785,992+22
 February4156,4818,3469,742-349 85,5585,6166,058-111
            
Other Registrants           
2015February412,212485449+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
 September411,471396749-88 21,6438071,831-256
 October511,307579743-33 21,5031,1051,245-28
 November411,242456521-16 21,2799351,159-56
 December511,322498418+16 21,448840671+34
            
2016January411,209499612-28 21,2149241,158-59
 February411,056368521-38 21,078795931-34
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 February 2016 Table 3 (XLS 37KB)
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Table 4 Persons on the Live Register classified by region
NUTS2 and NUTS3 Regions1February 2015January 2016February 2016Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
        
Males       
      Border, Midland and Western67,00759,73859,167-571-7,8407,68351,484
      Border30,56327,09726,819-278-3,7443,58723,232
      Midland17,23815,44015,343-97-1,8952,12213,221
      West19,20617,20117,005-196-2,2011,97415,031
        
      Southern and Eastern148,878132,018131,081-937-17,79715,999115,082
      Dublin53,19446,97046,996+26-6,1985,76741,229
      Mid-East20,37617,66517,563-102-2,8132,25315,310
      Mid-West17,71916,08715,822-265-1,8971,99413,828
      South-East28,97125,84625,590-256-3,3813,27822,312
      South-West28,61825,45025,110-340-3,5082,70722,403
      Total215,885191,756190,248-1,508-25,63723,682166,566
        
Females       
      Border, Midland and Western44,93741,87341,609-264-3,3285,47836,131
      Border20,22218,84718,751-96-1,4712,56916,182
      Midland11,56010,89410,851-43-7091,6059,246
      West13,15512,13212,007-125-1,1481,30410,703
        
      Southern and Eastern94,30288,17387,866-307-6,43610,62477,242
      Dublin31,45029,47229,555+83-1,8953,56525,990
      Mid-East14,17313,28613,245-41-9281,57011,675
      Mid-West11,61010,90810,791-117-8191,3609,431
      South-East18,19517,32617,210-116-9852,31514,895
      South-West18,87417,18117,065-116-1,8091,81415,251
      Total139,239130,046129,475-571-9,76416,102113,373
        
All Persons       
      Border, Midland and Western111,944101,611100,776-835-11,16813,16187,615
      Border50,78545,94445,570-374-5,2156,15639,414
      Midland28,79826,33426,194-140-2,6043,72722,467
      West32,36129,33329,012-321-3,3493,27825,734
        
      Southern and Eastern243,180220,191218,947-1,244-24,23326,623192,324
      Dublin84,64476,44276,551+109-8,0939,33267,219
      Mid-East34,54930,95130,808-143-3,7413,82326,985
      Mid-West29,32926,99526,613-382-2,7163,35423,259
      South-East47,16643,17242,800-372-4,3665,59337,207
      South-West47,49242,63142,175-456-5,3174,52137,654
      Total355,124321,802319,723-2,079-35,40139,784279,939
1 The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes.
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 4 (XLS 35KB)
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Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
 February 2015January 2016February 2016Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Broad occupational group
        
Males       
Managers and administrators8,9718,2958,245-50-7262298,016
Professional8,9008,1448,038-106-8624887,550
Associate professional and technical 5,6095,2015,178-23-4315274,651
Clerical and secretarial9,0988,3098,294-15-8048067,488
Craft and related 63,87555,06054,633-427-9,2423,66450,969
Personal and protective service15,74914,03613,945-91-1,8041,49012,455
Sales14,84012,82112,930+109-1,9103,0799,851
Plant and machine operatives44,08539,09138,714-377-5,3714,45034,264
Other occupation32,65129,29828,902-396-3,7494,56224,340
No occupation112,10711,50111,369-132-7384,3876,982
Total 215,885191,756190,248-1,508-25,63723,682166,566
        
Females       
Managers and administrators6,5486,1976,148-49-4001236,025
Professional10,4369,4989,417-81-1,0193839,034
Associate professional and technical 4,2764,0514,004-47-2722653,739
Clerical and secretarial24,28122,62322,402-221-1,87996121,441
Craft and related 7,0296,8716,907+36-1228096,098
Personal and protective service30,35028,29728,091-206-2,2593,45024,641
Sales24,05721,76122,050+289-2,0073,67118,379
Plant and machine operatives14,56613,43013,384-46-1,1821,70411,680
Other occupation9,9309,6189,508-110-4222,0747,434
No occupation17,7667,7007,564-136-2022,6624,902
Total139,239130,046129,475-571-9,76416,102113,373
        
All Persons       
Managers and administrators15,51914,49214,393-99-1,12635214,041
Professional19,33617,64217,455-187-1,88187116,584
Associate professional and technical 9,8859,2529,182-70-7037928,390
Clerical and secretarial33,37930,93230,696-236-2,6831,76728,929
Craft and related 70,90461,93161,540-391-9,3644,47357,067
Personal and protective service46,09942,33342,036-297-4,0634,94037,096
Sales38,89734,58234,980+398-3,9176,75028,230
Plant and machine operatives58,65152,52152,098-423-6,5536,15445,944
Other occupation42,58138,91638,410-506-4,1716,63631,774
No occupation119,87319,20118,933-268-9407,04911,884
Total 355,124321,802319,723-2,079-35,40139,784279,939
        
1 Includes those who never worked and those who have no stated occupation.
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 5 (XLS 36KB)
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Table 6 Persons on the Live Register classified by duration of continuous registration
 February 2015January 2016February 2016Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Duration
        
Males
   Less than one year109,25599,14098,991-149-10,26416,10082,891
   One year or more106,63092,61691,257-1,359-15,3737,58283,675
   Total215,885191,756190,248-1,508-25,63723,682166,566
       
Females       
   Less than one year83,09377,20777,254+47-5,83911,58665,668
   One year or more56,14652,83952,221-618-3,9254,51647,705
   Total139,239130,046129,475-571-9,76416,102113,373
       
All Persons       
   Less than one year192,348176,347176,245-102-16,10327,686148,559
   One year or more162,776145,455143,478-1,977-19,29812,098131,380
   Total355,124321,802319,723-2,079-35,40139,784279,939
        
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 6 (XLS 31KB)
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Table 7 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register
   MalesMonthly change FemalesMonthly change All PersonsMonthly change
          
2014February 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
 September 34,813-982 30,862-831 65,675-1,813
 October 34,418-395 30,766-96 65,184-491
 November 34,729+311 30,949+183 65,678+494
 December 34,737 + 8 30,941- 8 65,6780
           
2016January 34,470-267 30,800-141 65,270-408
 February 34,828+358 31,152+352 65,980+710
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 7 (XLS 34KB)
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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  
         
2014February15,1473,83639,33711,372 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
 July15,1733,71236,39911,656 66,940337,575404,515
 August13,2643,39532,2169,431 58,306300,770359,076
 September12,4123,21830,6708,844 55,144277,657332,801
 October11,9913,15029,9668,280 53,387267,407320,794
 November11,8753,29430,2118,158 53,538263,048316,586
 December12,0683,36630,8878,127 54,448267,168321,616
          
2016January12,0873,43031,3988,010 54,925266,877321,802
 February12,0283,39031,5908,138 55,146264,577319,723
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 8 (XLS 35KB)
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Table 9 Live Register Compositional Analysis
 February 2013February 2014February 2015February 2016
  % of total % of total % of total % of total
 NumberNumberNumberNumber
Sex        
Males272,85563.6247,38162.1215,88560.8190,24859.5
Females156,02136.4150,68837.9139,23939.2129,47540.5
Total428,876100.0398,069100.0355,124100.0319,723100.0
        
Age        
Under 25 years68,36115.960,23215.148,52413.739,78412.4
25 years and over360,51584.1337,83784.9306,60086.3279,93987.6
Total428,876100.0398,069100.0355,124100.0319,723100.0
        
Scheme        
JB Claims85,80420.060,70815.350,84514.345,55014.2
JA Applications309,15572.1301,71675.8269,59875.9242,03975.7
Other Registrants33,9177.935,6459.034,6819.832,13410.1
Total428,876100.0398,069100.0355,124100.0319,723100.0
         
Duration of Continuous Registration        
Less than one year239,40955.8217,57354.7192,34854.2176,24555.1
One year or more189,46744.2180,49645.3162,77645.8143,47844.9
Total428,876100.0398,069100.0355,124100.0319,723100.0
         
Nationality Grouping        
Irish Nationals352,04782.1328,37782.5294,11482.8264,57782.8
Non-Irish Nationals76,82917.969,69217.561,01017.255,14617.2
Total428,876100.0398,069100.0355,124100.0319,723100.0
         
NUTS2 Regions1        
Border, Midland and Western133,29231.1124,21931.2111,94431.5100,77631.5
Southern and Eastern295,58468.9273,85068.8243,18068.5218,94768.5
Total428,876100.0398,069100.0355,124100.0319,723100.0
         
Last Held Occupation        
Managers and administrators17,6644.116,7864.215,5194.414,3934.5
Professional24,0515.621,7325.519,3365.417,4555.5
Associate professional and technical12,2272.911,2542.89,8852.89,1822.9
Clerical and secretarial40,2179.437,2169.333,3799.430,6969.6
Craft and related 97,53322.783,63621.070,90420.061,54019.2
Personal and protective service51,90912.150,36112.746,09913.042,03613.1
Sales46,13010.844,11111.138,89711.034,98010.9
Plant and machine operatives70,21816.466,42716.758,65116.552,09816.3
Other occupation48,84211.445,95511.542,58112.038,41012.0
No occupation220,0854.720,5915.219,8735.618,9335.9
Total428,876100.0398,069100.0355,124100.0319,723100.0
         
Casual Status        
No casual and part-time work339,09679.1316,86579.6282,96979.7253,74379.4
Casual and part-time work89,78020.981,20420.472,15520.365,98020.6
Total428,876100.0398,069100.0355,124100.0319,723100.0
         
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.
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 Table 9 (XLS 16KB)
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Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes   
 January 2015December 2015January 2016
Back to Work Schemes  
Back to Work allowance scheme - Employee strand1200
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand11,18011,88111,795
Short-term Enterprise Allowance2 440396382
Total Back to Work payments 11,62212,27712,177
   
Other Activation Programmes   
DSP Part-time Job Incentive397421405
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) 7,8657,9397,880
JobBridge (2011)6,2204,6834,323
Gateway (2013)31,7702,3502,311
Total Other Activation Programmes16,25215,39314,919
      
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors) 22,92722,81322,706
  
FAS (Solas) Full Time Training for Unemployed People4 7,5527,4816,657
       
Back to Education Courses  
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)5N/AN/AN/A
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)6,723,49718,34518,263
Total Back to Education Courses 28,49723,34523,263
      
Total Activation Programmes86,85081,30979,722
    
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.
7 December 2015 revised.
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2016 - Annex (XLS 35KB)
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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: 

February 2016 – 31st January to 27th February 2016
February 2015 – 31st January to 27th February 2015

From May 2015 (reference period) the reference period refers to the week of the last Thursday in the month, previously the reference period referred to the week of 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 on a bi-annual basis,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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http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/lr/liveregisterfebruary2016/

Contact:

Central Statistics Office
Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

Tel:
(+353) 21 453 5000
E-Mail:
information@cso.ie

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