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E-mail: labour@cso.ie Marie O'Connor/ Sheila Bulman (+353) 21 453 5298/ 21 453 5222 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 2020

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
February 2019196,934196,700
January 2020183,755183,900
February 2020182,616182,500
  
Change in month-- 1,400
Change in year- 14,318-

Seasonally adjusted Live Register total decreases by 1,400 in February

Live Register Seasonally Adjusted
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On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 1,400 (-0.8%) in February 2020 bringing the seasonally adjusted total to 182,500. The number of persons on the Live Register in February 2020 is the lowest number recorded in the seasonally adjusted series since January 2008. See table 2(a) and  Live Register Series.

In unadjusted terms there were 182,616 persons signing on the Live Register in February 2020. This represents an annual decrease of 14,318 (-7.3%) since February 2019. See table 1(a).

 Other features include:

  • On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register showed a monthly decrease of 1,000 (-1.0%) for males in February 2020, while females decreased by 400 (-0.5%) over the same period. See table 2(a).

  • On an unadjusted basis, the number of male claimants decreased by 7,721 (-6.9%) to 103,596 in the year to February 2020, while female claimants decreased by 6,597 (-7.7%) to 79,020. This compares with an annual decrease in the year to February 2019 of 24,016 (-17.7%) to 111,317 for males, while female claimants decreased by 14,394 (-14.4%) to 85,617 in the same period.  See table 2(a).

 

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 Labour Force Survey.

The Monthly Unemployment Rate (seasonally adjusted) is published in the Monthly Unemployment release. 
DurationLess than one yearOne year or more
February 201813877096574
March 201813763394733
April 201813089392709
May 201812880594697
June 201813328794778
July 201814092393522
August 201813318991969
September 201811932486406
October 201811624982998
November 201811570480557
December 201812012779542
January 201912061779010
February 201911952177413
March 201911630076107
April 201911817874940
May 201911362976238
June 201911991677192
July 201912973876658
August 201912328875805
September 201911218971594
October 201911131369146
November 201910955268002
December 201911443867558
January 202011605067705
February 202011574566871

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in February 2020 was 66,871. The number of male long term claimants decreased by 6,653 (-14.5%) in the year to February 2020, while females decreased by 3,889 (-12.3%), giving an overall annual decrease of 10,542 (-13.6%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and figure 2.

In February 2020, 63.4% (115,745) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for February 2019 was 60.7% (119,521). The annual fall of 3,776 (-3.2%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 1,068 (-1.6%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 2,708 (-5.0%) in female short term claimants. See table 6.

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 36,606 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in February 2020, which represents 20.0% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 21.0% one year earlier when there were 41,264 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register.  In the year to February 2020 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 4,658 (-11.3%), with the number of males decreasing by 2,429 (-12.1%) and the number of females decreasing by 2,229 (-10.5%). See table 7.

Under 25 years25 years and over
February 201825647209697
February 201920868176066
February 202019732162884

Live Register age groups

In the year to February 2020 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 13,182 (-7.5%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 1,136 (-5.4%).  Annual decreases in persons aged under 25 have occurred in all months since July 2010. The percentage of persons aged under 25 on the Live Register now stands at 10.8% for February 2020, up from 10.6% in February 2019 and down from 10.9% in February 2018. See tables 2(b) and 2(c) and figure 3.

Live Register new registrants

There were 15,098 new registrants on the Live Register in February 2020, consisting of 7,513 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) applications, 7,205 Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) claims, and 380 “Other Registrants”. Males accounted for 56.0% (8,458) and females accounted for 44.0% (6,640) of all new registrants. JA applications represented 49.8% of all new registrations, while JB claims and “Other Registrants” represented 47.7% and 2.5% respectively.  See table 3.

Live Register last occupation held

Craft and related (17.0%) remained the largest occupational group1 on the Live Register in February 2020. The number in the group fell over the year by 2,507 to 31,053.  The Sales group had the largest annual percentage decrease (-11.0%).  The Plant and machine operatives group had the second largest annual percentage decrease (-9.9%) in February 2020. See table 5 and figure 4.

The two smallest occupational groups in February 2020 were the Associate professional and technical and Managers and administrators groups which accounted for 3.5% and 5.5% of the Live Register respectively. See table 5 and figure 4.

Broad Occupational GroupFebruary 2018February 2019February 2020
111633102629961
2137401159111565
3754967856333
4247402154919738
5417253356031053
6317512679924387
7243332014517919
8368223017027185
9288572401223002
10141941206111473
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 14,199 (-10.4%) brought the total number of JA applicants to 122,605 in February 2020, while JB claimants increased to 38,707 (+6.5%) over the same period.  As a result, JA applicants account for 67.1% of all persons on the Live Register in February 2020 compared with 69.5% a year earlier. See table 1(a).
  • Annual decreases occurred in all the eight NUTS 3 regions with the largest percentage decrease occurring in the West region (-9.1%) followed by the South-West region (-8.2%). See table 4.
  • In February 2020, Irish nationals accounted for 81.7% (149,154) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 33,462 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU27 States (17,835), followed by the United Kingdom (7,108). See table 8.

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

Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of January 2020 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.

There were 48,329 persons availing of these programmes in January 2020, which is a decrease of 4,032 persons (-7.7%) from the previous year, when there were 52,361 persons 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 2019January 2020February 2020Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims17,51219,51119,320-191+1,808
    JA Applications86,17378,45177,654-797-8,519
    Other Registrants7,6326,6436,622-21-1,010
    Total111,317104,605103,596-1,009-7,721
 
Females
    JB Claims18,84719,17419,387+213+540
    JA Applications50,63145,21244,951-261-5,680
    Other Registrants16,13914,76414,682-82-1,457
    Total85,61779,15079,020-130-6,597
 
All Persons
    JB Claims36,35938,68538,707+22+2,348
    JA Applications136,804123,663122,605-1,058-14,199
    Other Registrants23,77121,40721,304-103-2,467
    Total196,934183,755182,616-1,139-14,318
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 Table 1(a) (XLS 38KB)
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Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategoryFebruary 2019January 2020February 2020Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims1,1831,4121,411-1+228
    JA Applications11,00310,28110,251-30-752
    Other Registrants584537-8-21
    Total12,24411,73811,699-39-545
 
Females
    JB Claims1,1281,2121,248+36+120
    JA Applications7,4426,5966,738+142-704
    Other Registrants544547+2-7
    Total8,6247,8538,033+180-591
 
All Persons
    JB Claims2,3112,6242,659+35+348
    JA Applications18,44516,87716,989+112-1,456
    Other Registrants1129084-6-28
    Total20,86819,59119,732+141-1,136
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 Table 1(b) (XLS 33KB)
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Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategoryFebruary 2019January 2020February 2020Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims16,32918,09917,909-190+1,580
    JA Applications75,17068,17067,403-767-7,767
    Other Registrants7,5746,5986,585-13-989
    Total99,07392,86791,897-970-7,176
 
Females
    JB Claims17,71917,96218,139+177+420
    JA Applications43,18938,61638,213-403-4,976
    Other Registrants16,08514,71914,635-84-1,450
    Total76,99371,29770,987-310-6,006
 
All Persons
    JB Claims34,04836,06136,048-13+2,000
    JA Applications118,359106,786105,616-1,170-12,743
    Other Registrants23,65921,31721,220-97-2,439
    Total176,066164,164162,884-1,280-13,182
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 Table 1(c) (XLS 36KB)
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Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
 Unadjusted SeriesSeasonally Adjusted Series¹
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
2018February135,333100,011235,344133,400101,700235,000
 March132,58199,785232,366131,600100,600232,200
 April128,34995,253223,602129,20099,200228,500
 May127,69995,803223,502127,10097,900225,000
 June126,981101,084228,065124,40096,300220,700
 July126,252108,193234,445122,50095,100217,600
 August123,354101,804225,158120,30093,600214,000
 September115,89089,840205,730118,60092,700211,300
 October112,39786,850199,247117,10091,700208,800
 November110,83685,425196,261115,30090,700206,000
 December112,41487,255199,669113,50089,700203,200
 
2019January113,15486,473199,627111,50088,400199,900
 February111,31785,617196,934109,50087,200196,700
 March109,13083,277192,407108,70086,400195,100
 April107,76585,353193,118108,00086,800194,800
 May107,01882,849189,867106,70085,000191,700
 June108,27388,835197,108106,10084,400190,500
 July108,93697,460206,396105,60084,400190,000
 August107,84991,244199,093105,30083,500188,700
 September103,54880,235183,783106,10083,200189,300
 October100,96179,498180,459105,20084,100189,300
 November100,65976,895177,554104,70082,100186,800
 December102,87879,118181,996103,70081,500185,200
 
2020January104,60579,150183,755102,90081,000183,900
 February103,59679,020182,616 101,90080,600182,500
¹ Table contains revised figures
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 Table 2(a) (XLS 43KB)
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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
2018February15,14310,50425,64715,10010,80025,800
 March14,80610,23225,03814,90010,50025,400
 April14,3379,78424,12114,60010,30024,900
 May14,48910,14624,63514,40010,20024,600
 June14,65810,79025,44814,0009,90023,900
 July14,61911,36925,98813,8009,80023,500
 August14,58311,05025,63313,5009,60023,100
 September13,2759,39522,67013,2009,30022,500
 October12,3928,66321,05513,0009,20022,300
 November11,8328,18020,01212,7009,10021,900
 December11,7988,12319,92112,5009,00021,600
 
2019January12,3088,56920,87712,4009,00021,300
 February12,2448,62420,86812,2008,80021,000
 March12,0308,42020,45012,1008,70020,800
 April11,6788,27119,94911,9008,60020,600
 May11,8918,45620,34711,8008,50020,300
 June12,2939,25521,54811,8008,50020,300
 July12,5009,99022,49011,8008,50020,300
 August12,7269,74522,47111,8008,40020,200
 September11,9498,39320,34211,9008,30020,200
 October11,1997,71918,91811,8008,30020,000
 November11,0007,36218,36211,8008,20020,100
 December11,1007,36918,46911,8008,20020,000
 
2020January11,7387,85319,59111,8008,20020,000
 February11,6998,03319,732 11,6008,20019,900
¹ Table contains revised figures
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 Table(2b) (XLS 42KB)
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Table 2(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
  Unadjusted SeriesSeasonally Adjusted Series¹
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
2018February120,19089,507209,697 118,30090,900209,200
 March117,77589,553207,328 116,70090,000206,800
 April114,01285,469199,481 114,60088,900203,500
 May113,21085,657198,867 112,70087,700200,400
 June112,32390,294202,617 110,40086,400196,800
 July111,63396,824208,457 108,80085,300194,100
 August108,77190,754199,525 106,80084,100190,900
 September102,61580,445183,060 105,40083,400188,800
 October100,00578,187178,192 104,10082,500186,500
 November99,00477,245176,249 102,50081,600184,100
 December100,61679,132179,748 101,00080,700181,600
 
2019January100,84677,904178,750 99,20079,400178,600
 February99,07376,993176,066 97,30078,400175,700
 March97,10074,857171,957 96,60077,700174,300
 April96,08777,082173,169 96,10078,100174,200
 May95,12774,393169,520 94,90076,500171,400
 June95,98079,580175,560 94,30075,900170,200
 July96,43687,470183,906 93,80075,900169,700
 August95,12381,499176,622 93,50075,000168,500
 September91,59971,842163,441 94,20074,800169,000
 October89,76271,779161,541 93,50075,800169,300
 November89,65969,533159,192 92,80073,900166,700
 December91,77871,749163,527 92,00073,300165,200
 
2020January92,86771,297164,164 91,10072,800164,000
 February91,89770,987162,884 90,30072,400162,700
¹ Table contains revised figures
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 Table 2(c) (XLS 43KB)
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Table 3 Summary of flows on and off the Live Register¹
  Males Females All Claimants
  Live RegisterJoined Live RegisterStayed on Live RegisterLeft Live Register Live RegisterJoined Live RegisterStayed on Live RegisterLeft Live Register Live RegisterJoined Live RegisterStayed on Live RegisterLeft Live Register
JB Claims
2019February17,5123,43614,0763,346 18,8473,35915,4883,049 36,3596,79529,5646,395
 March16,8913,09813,7933,290 17,6722,54115,1313,310 34,5635,63928,9246,600
 April17,0223,62313,3993,074 19,9975,55714,4402,791 37,0199,18027,8395,865
 May15,9513,75012,2014,305 17,2733,60313,6705,856 33,2247,35325,87110,161
 June16,5883,68612,9022,678 20,9976,48714,5102,272 37,58510,17327,4124,950
 July17,5904,11313,4772,619 27,5959,40118,1942,355 45,18513,51431,6714,974
 August17,1883,86313,3253,718 22,9493,69119,2587,791 40,1377,55432,58311,509
 September16,6563,81812,8383,908 17,2353,18414,0518,522 33,8917,00226,88912,430
 October16,6234,59812,0254,011 18,4535,32613,1273,573 35,0769,92425,1527,584
 November16,8674,05812,8093,357 17,2043,37313,8314,280 34,0717,43126,6407,637
 December18,3093,85514,4541,922 19,1184,03315,0851,765 37,4277,88829,5393,687
 
2020January19,5115,34814,1633,557 19,1744,62614,5484,190 38,6859,97428,7117,747
 February19,3203,78215,5383,505 19,3873,42315,9642,836 38,7077,20531,5026,341
JA Applications
2019February86,1734,90481,2696,688 50,6313,23847,3934,155 136,8048,142128,66210,843
 March84,7114,31280,3996,153 49,6942,63747,0573,862 134,4056,949127,45610,015
 April83,2484,10979,1395,930 49,2832,99046,2933,700 132,5317,099125,4329,630
 May83,7257,47376,2527,447 49,8625,14844,7144,907 133,58712,621120,96612,354
 June84,3956,34778,0486,008 51,8825,15146,7313,451 136,27711,498124,7799,459
 July84,0825,00479,0785,748 53,3254,62448,7013,476 137,4079,628127,7799,224
 August83,5245,49278,0326,535 52,1433,61748,5265,162 135,6679,109126,55811,697
 September79,9275,66474,2639,656 47,5513,37944,1728,242 127,4789,043118,43517,898
 October77,4485,89571,5538,905 45,6413,93941,7026,205 123,0899,834113,25515,110
 November77,0485,22871,8206,041 44,6943,06941,6254,260 121,7428,297113,44510,301
 December77,8364,07873,7583,728 44,9742,54742,4272,529 122,8106,625116,1856,257
 
2020January78,4515,58372,8685,530 45,2123,67041,5423,733 123,6639,253114,4109,263
 February77,6544,55473,1005,772 44,9512,95941,9923,484 122,6057,513115,0929,256
Other Registrants
2019February7,6321467,486290 16,13932315,816571 23,77146923,302861
 March7,5281157,413268 15,91123415,677581 23,43934923,090849
 April7,4951627,333253 16,07348015,593462 23,56864222,926715
 May7,3421397,203354 15,71430815,406803 23,05644722,6091,157
 June7,2901267,164219 15,95649715,459425 23,24662322,623644
 July7,2641977,067283 16,54087115,669441 23,8041,06822,736724
 August7,1371556,982342 16,15232215,830895 23,28947722,8121,237
 September6,9651296,836347 15,44926315,1861,072 22,41439222,0221,419
 October6,8901956,695358 15,40449814,906723 22,29469321,6011,081
 November6,7441326,612322 14,99727714,720782 21,74140921,3321,104
 December6,7331496,584213 15,02634414,682407 21,75949321,266620
 
2020January6,6431676,476284 14,76429514,469636 21,40746220,945920
 February6,6221226,500192 14,68225814,424448 21,30438020,924640
All Schemes
2019February111,3178,486102,83110,324 85,6176,92078,6977,775 196,93415,406181,52818,099
 March109,1307,525101,6059,711 83,2775,41277,8657,753 192,40712,937179,47017,464
 April107,7657,89499,8719,257 85,3539,02776,3266,953 193,11816,921176,19716,210
 May107,01811,36295,65612,106 82,8499,05973,79011,566 189,86720,421169,44623,672
 June108,27310,15998,1148,905 88,83512,13576,7006,148 197,10822,294174,81415,053
 July108,9369,31499,6228,650 97,46014,89682,5646,272 206,39624,210182,18614,922
 August107,8499,51098,33910,595 91,2447,63083,61413,848 199,09317,140181,95324,443
 September103,5489,61193,93713,911 80,2356,82673,40917,836 183,78316,437167,34631,747
 October100,96110,68890,27313,274 79,4989,76369,73510,501 180,45920,451160,00823,775
 November100,6599,41891,2419,720 76,8956,71970,1769,322 177,55416,137161,41719,042
 December102,8788,08294,7965,863 79,1186,92472,1944,701 181,99615,006166,99010,564
 
2020January104,60511,09893,5079,371 79,1508,59170,5598,559 183,75519,689164,06617,930
 February103,5968,45895,1389,469 79,0206,64072,3806,768 182,61615,098167,51816,237
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 2020 Table 3 (XLS 70KB)
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Table 4 Persons on the Live Register classified by region
NUTS2 and NUTS3 Regions¹February 2019January 2020February 2020Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
      Northern and Western22,31120,65920,457-202-1,8542,24618,211
      Border11,54710,74910,700-49-8471,2279,473
      West10,7649,9109,757-153-1,0071,0198,738
 
      Southern 37,84135,96935,539-430-2,3024,09031,449
      Mid-West11,66311,08010,973-107-6901,3259,648
      South-East12,63812,38512,265-120-3731,57310,692
      South-West13,54012,50412,301-203-1,2391,19211,109
 
     Eastern and Midland51,04547,83347,477-356-3,5685,34042,137
      Dublin28,35726,39526,229-166-2,1282,79523,434
      Mid-East14,26713,49713,362-135-9051,56411,798
      Midland8,4217,9417,886-55-5359816,905
      Total111,317104,605103,596-1,009-7,72111,69991,897
 
Females
      Northern and Western18,02116,49916,485-14-1,5361,67814,807
      Border9,1838,3908,418+28-7659497,469
      West8,8388,1098,067-42-7717297,338
 
      Southern 29,23827,27127,219-52-2,0192,89324,326
      Mid-West8,5587,8677,818-49-7409046,914
      South-East9,9099,3129,396+84-5131,1188,278
      South-West10,77110,09210,005-87-7668719,134
 
     Eastern and Midland38,22535,21935,164-55-3,0613,43031,734
      Dublin19,56917,97617,989+13-1,5801,59016,399
      Mid-East11,70110,95410,894-60-8071,0569,838
      Midland6,9556,2896,281-8-6747845,497
      Total85,61779,15079,020-130-6,5978,03370,987
 
All Persons
      Northern and Western40,33237,15836,942-216-3,3903,92433,018
      Border20,73019,13919,118-21-1,6122,17616,942
      West19,60218,01917,824-195-1,7781,74816,076
 
      Southern 67,07963,24062,758-482-4,3216,98355,775
      Mid-West20,22118,94718,791-156-1,4302,22916,562
      South-East22,54721,69721,661-36-8862,69118,970
      South-West24,31122,59622,306-290-2,0052,06320,243
 
     Eastern and Midland89,27083,05282,641-411-6,6298,77073,871
      Dublin47,92644,37144,218-153-3,7084,38539,833
      Mid-East25,96824,45124,256-195-1,7122,62021,636
      Midland15,37614,23014,167-63-1,2091,76512,402
      Total2196,934183,755182,616-1,139-14,31819,732162,884
¹ The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes
2 From January 2018, registrations which have yet not being assigned to a DEASP local office of registration are included in the Live Register Totals. These registrations are not included in individual NUTS3/ NUTS2 totals in this table
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 Table 4 (XLS 48KB)
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Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
Broad occupational groupFebruary 2019January 2020February 2020Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
Managers and administrators5,6915,4445,365-79-3261095,256
Professional5,0575,1165,003-113-542434,760
Associate professional and technical 3,6633,4543,394-60-2692573,137
Clerical and secretarial5,6795,2505,261+11-4185104,751
Craft and related 28,26226,31225,967-345-2,2952,10123,866
Personal and protective service8,9758,4338,384-49-5918687,516
Sales7,2726,5296,570+41-7021,4985,072
Plant and machine operatives21,90820,07019,819-251-2,0892,15317,666
Other occupation17,64217,12616,929-197-7132,09314,836
No occupation¹7,1686,8716,904+33-2641,8675,037
Total 111,317104,605103,596-1,009-7,72111,69991,897
 
Females
Managers and administrators4,5714,6294,596-33+25844,512
Professional6,5346,5316,562+31+282336,329
Associate professional and technical 3,1222,9922,939-53-1831462,793
Clerical and secretarial15,87014,47814,477-1-1,39354213,935
Craft and related 5,2985,0815,086+5-2125754,511
Personal and protective service17,82416,18016,003-177-1,8211,79114,212
Sales12,87311,31611,349+33-1,5241,7329,617
Plant and machine operatives8,2627,3507,366+16-8968126,554
Other occupation6,3706,0306,073+43-2979545,119
No occupation¹4,8934,5634,569+6-3241,1643,405
Total85,61779,15079,020-130-6,5978,03370,987
 
All Persons
Managers and administrators10,26210,0739,961-112-3011939,768
Professional11,59111,64711,565-82-2647611,089
Associate professional and technical 6,7856,4466,333-113-4524035,930
Clerical and secretarial21,54919,72819,738+10-1,8111,05218,686
Craft and related 33,56031,39331,053-340-2,5072,67628,377
Personal and protective service26,79924,61324,387-226-2,4122,65921,728
Sales20,14517,84517,919+74-2,2263,23014,689
Plant and machine operatives30,17027,42027,185-235-2,9852,96524,220
Other occupation24,01223,15623,002-154-1,0103,04719,955
No occupation¹12,06111,43411,473+39-5883,0318,442
Total 196,934183,755182,616-1,139-14,31819,732162,884
¹ Includes those who never worked and those who have no stated occupation
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 Table 5 (XLS 47KB)
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Table 6 Persons on the Live Register classified by duration of continuous registration
DurationFebruary 2019January 2020February 2020Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
   Less than one year65,39764,81864,329-489-1,0689,10955,220
   One year or more45,92039,78739,267-520-6,6532,59036,677
   Total111,317104,605103,596-1,009-7,72111,69991,897
 
Females
   Less than one year54,12451,23251,416+184-2,7086,46844,948
   One year or more31,49327,91827,604-314-3,8891,56526,039
   Total85,61779,15079,020-130-6,5978,03370,987
 
All Persons
   Less than one year119,521116,050115,745-305-3,77615,577100,168
   One year or more77,41367,70566,871-834-10,5424,15562,716
   Total196,934183,755182,616-1,139-14,31819,732162,884
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 Table 6 (XLS 36KB)
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Table 7 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register
  MalesMonthly change FemalesMonthly change All PersonsMonthly change
2018February25,459-96 24,858+182 50,317+86
 March24,909-550 24,557-301 49,466-851
 April24,188-721 23,939-618 48,127-1,339
 May23,493-695 23,424-515 46,917-1,210
 June22,872-621 23,116-308 45,988-929
 July22,290-582 22,855-261 45,145-843
 August21,492-798 22,102-753 43,594-1,551
 September20,719-773 21,405-697 42,124-1,470
 October20,309-410 21,344-61 41,653-471
 November20,286-23 21,473+129 41,759+106
 December20,348+62 21,403-70 41,751-08
 
2019January20,079-269 21,161-242 41,240-511
 February20,090+11 21,174+13 41,264+24
 March19,803-287 20,956-218 40,759-505
 April19,280-523 20,403-553 39,683-1,076
 May18,502-778 19,894-509 38,396-1,287
 June18,259-243 19,856-38 38,115-281
 July17,915-344 19,671-185 37,586-529
 August17,543-372 19,236-435 36,779-807
 September17,408-135 18,703-533 36,111-668
 October17,320-88 18,629-74 35,949-162
 November17,562+242 18,964+335 36,526+577
 December17,754+192 19,062+98 36,816+290
 
2020January17,561-193 18,794-268 36,355-461
 February17,661+100 18,945+151 36,606+251
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 Table 7 (XLS 44KB)
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Table 8 Persons on the Live Register classified by nationality grouping
  Nationality grouping
  Non-Irish nationals     
  United KingdomEU14 excl. IRL 1EU15 to EU27 1Other  Non-Irish nationalsIrish nationalsAll Persons
2018February9,1242,93023,1676,787 42,008193,336235,344
 March9,0072,78222,7066,761 41,256191,110232,366
 April8,6952,64621,8346,699 39,874183,728223,602
 May8,7552,64721,3707,024 39,796183,706223,502
 June8,8262,63021,1027,335 39,893188,172228,065
 July8,9462,61021,0287,312 39,896194,549234,445
 August8,6452,60020,1937,149 38,587186,571225,158
 September7,9652,42618,9106,504 35,805169,925205,730
 October7,7962,42818,6016,107 34,932164,315199,247
 November7,7872,50518,6325,983 34,907161,354196,261
 December7,9042,49719,2116,003 35,615164,054199,669
 
2019January7,8692,58819,4506,020 35,927163,700199,627
 February7,7652,59519,2385,948 35,546161,388196,934
 March7,5572,43818,8735,948 34,816157,591192,407
 April7,4722,43618,4815,953 34,342158,776193,118
 May7,4042,39318,0276,232 34,056155,811189,867
 June7,5902,46718,0606,545 34,662162,446197,108
 July7,8202,55418,1266,735 35,235171,161206,396
 August7,6672,49217,7886,696 34,643164,450199,093
 September7,0532,37217,4176,538 33,380150,403183,783
 October6,9582,26516,7855,921 31,929148,530180,459
 November6,9352,31816,8355,837 31,925145,629177,554
 December7,1402,39517,3685,890 32,793149,203181,996
 
2020January7,1552,48817,8736,031 33,547150,208183,755
 February7,1082,46917,8356,050 33,462149,154182,616
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 excl. IRL before February 2020 was formally classified as EU15 excl. IRL & UK.
EU15 to EU27 before February 2020 was formally classified as EU15 to EU28 States.
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 Table 8 (XLS 46KB)
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Annex Table A1 - Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes
 January 2019December 2019January 2020
Back to Work Schemes    
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand6,4114,1154,037
Short-term Enterprise Allowance1 291295261
Total Back to Work payments 6,7024,4104,298
 
Other Activation Programmes    
DSP Part-time Job Incentive285200182
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011)6,4455,6335,562
Total Other Activation Programmes6,7305,8335,744
     
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors)21,37121,29021,093
 
SOLAS (FAS) Full Time Training for Unemployed People5,4766,9447,341
     
Back to Education Courses    
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)23,0452,7952,732
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)9,0377,2837,121
Total Back to Education Courses3 12,08210,0789,853
     
Total Activation Programmes52,36148,55548,329
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.
2 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.
3 BTEA figures include all schemes but participants from JA & JB are not entitled to BTEA during the summer holidays. Includes MOMENTUM participants from February 2013.
Open in Excel: Live Register February 2020 - Annex (XLS 36KB)
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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 Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP).  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.

Prior to January 2017, the DEASP provided tabulated claimant counts directly to the CSO to facilitate production of the Live Register. These claimant counts were grouped by age, gender, occupation, nationality, duration, region, county and local welfare office. Data provided in this fashion is available from 1967 to December 2016.

Beginning with January 2017, the Live Register has been produced using claimant microdata from the DEASP Integrated Short Term Scheme (ISTS) database. Claimants are determined to be on the Live Register if they fulfil the Live Register criteria and such persons are summarised and cross-tabulated to produce the counts published in the Live Register release.

As claimant count microdata was retrospectively available to January 2012, previously published Live Register data for this period were revised with data produced from the claimant microdata. These revisions were generally minor in nature and are included in this release as well as all relevant Statbank tables.

Reference Period

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

February 2020 – 2nd February 2020 to 29th February 2020

February 2019 - 3rd February 2019 to 2nd March 2019

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 Labour Force Survey (formerly the Quarterly National Household 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 series, which is published two days before the Live Register.

Labour Force Survey 

The Labour Force Survey (LFS), was launched in January 2018 with the publication of Quarter 3 2017 data (Q3 2017). The Labour Force survey replaced the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS).

The LFS provides quarterly estimates of the unemployment rate.

The calendar reference quarters for survey results are:
Q1 - January to March, Q2 - April to June, Q3 - July to September and Q4 - October to December.

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 claims).

From 15 October 2008, Jobseeker’s Benefit could be paid for a maximum of 12 months (312 days) to people who had at least 260 paid PRSI contributions.  Jobseeker’s Benefit could be paid for a maximum of 9 months (234 days) to people who had less than 260 paid contributions.

As of 3 April 2013, Jobseeker’s Benefit can be paid for a maximum of 9 months (234 days) to people who have 260 paid PRSI contributions. Jobseeker’s Benefit can be paid for a maximum of 6 months (156 days) to people who have less than 260 paid contributions (Refers to new claims).

Claimants getting Jobseeker’s Benefit for 6 months or more on 3 April 2013 (or 3 months for people with fewer than 260 contributions) will not be affected.

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 DEASP website:

http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/278_One-Parent-Family-Payment.aspx

Live Register Flows

Live Register flows are calculated by analysing persons on the Live Register in the reference week of the reference month compared to those on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month. The flows are calculated as follows:

Joined Live Register: Persons on the Live Register in the reference week of the current month who were not present on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month.

Stayed on Live Register: Persons on the Live Register in the reference week of the current month who were also present on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month.

Left Live Register: Persons not on the Live Register in the reference week of the current month who were present on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month.

Inflows and outflows published in this release relate to persons moving on or off the Live Register. Inter-scheme movement is not counted as a Live Register flow. For example, if a claimant exhausts his/her entitlement to JB and opens a new JA claim, this is not counted as an outflow in JB and an inflow in JA. The person has moved scheme but has not joined nor left the Live Register. Thus, those persons who move schemes from one month to the next are counted as “Stayed on the Live Register”.

Live Register Area Analysis

The basis of the area analysis in Live Register statistics is the DEASP local office of registration.  The areas served by Local Employment Offices do not correspond to specific geographic boundaries.  Therefore, registrants at a given local office do not necessarily come from a particular region or area which can be precisely delineated e.g. data for the Cork City Local Offices of Registration refers to all persons signing on in Cork City but may include persons not resident in Cork City. 

From January 2018, registrations which have yet not being assigned to a DEASP local office of registration are included in the Live Register totals. Therefore as these registrations are not included in the regional breakdowns, the sum of these regions may not add to the Live Register totals.

The latest available Live Register data by Province, County and Local Office of Registration are published on the CSO website, through the CSO StatBank, on the publication of this release, see link here.

 

NUTS2 and NUTS3 regions

The regional classifications in this release is based on the NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) classification used by Eurostat. Until Q4 2017, the NUTS3 regions corresponded to the eight Regional Authorities established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order, 1993, which came into operation on 1 January 1994 while the NUTS2 regions, which were proposed by Government and agreed by Eurostat in 1999, were groupings of those historic NUTS3 regions.

However, the NUTS3 boundaries were amended on 21st of November 2016 under Regulation (EC) No. 2066/2016 and have come into force from Q1 2018. These new groupings are reflected in the LFS results from Q1 2018 onwards. The changes resulting from the amendment are that County Louth has moved from the Border to the Mid-East and what was formerly South Tipperary has moved from the South-East to the Mid-West, resulting in the new NUTS2 and NUTS3 regions:

Northern & Western NUTS2 Region Southern NUTS2 Region Eastern & Midland NUTS2 Region
Border Cavan Mid-West Clare Dublin Dublin City
  Donegal   Limerick City & County   Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown
  Leitrim   Tipperary   Fingal
  Monaghan       South Dublin
  Sligo        
    South-East Carlow Mid-East Kildare
West Galway City   Kilkenny   Meath
  Galway County   Waterford City & County   Wicklow
  Mayo   Wexford   Louth
  Roscommon        
        Midland Laois
    South-West Cork City   Longford
      Cork County   Offaly
      Kerry   Westmeath

 

Occupations

Live Register occupational data is sourced from information collected by the DEASP 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 number of claimants on the Live Register who work on a casual and /or part-time basis is supplied by the DEASP. People who work for part of a week may be eligible for Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Allowance and may also be included on the Live Register, if the DEASP is satisfied that they are not in full-time employment, are available for work and are looking for full-time employment.  

Nationality

Data in the nationality grouping table is sourced from information collected by the DEASP on the nationality of claimants when they first sign on the Live Register.

For further information or assistance use the contact details below or e-mail labour@cso.ie

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Scan the QR code below to view this release online or go to
http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/lr/liveregisterfebruary2020/

Contact:

Central Statistics Office
Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

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

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