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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

January 2016

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
January 2015358,672360,100
December 2015321,616328,000
January 2016321,802323,200
   
Change in month-- 4,800
Change in year- 36,870-

Seasonally adjusted Live Register total decreases by 4,800 in January

Live Register Seasonally Adjusted
go to full release

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 4,800 (-1.5%) in January 2016, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 323,200. See table 2(a).

In unadjusted terms there were 321,802 people signing on the Live Register in January 2016. This represents an annual decrease of 36,870 (-10.3%). See table 1(a).

Other features include:

  • On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register showed a monthly decrease of 3,500 (-1.8%) males in January 2016, while females decreased by 1,200 (-0.9%) over the same period. See table 2(a).

  • The number of male claimants decreased by 26,922 (-12.3%) to 191,756 in the year to January 2016, while female claimants decreased by 9,948 (-7.1%) to 130,046.  This compares with a decrease of 30,045 (-12.1%) to 218,678 for males, while female claimants decreased by 10,913 (-7.2%) to 139,994 in the year to January 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The Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) has been discontinued and has been replaced by the Monthly Unemployment release which is available here.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
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
Aug 2015194807164269
Sept 2015175947156854
Oct 2015171191149603
Nov 2015169793146793
Dec 2015175442146174
Jan 2016176347145455

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in January 2016 was 145,455.  The number of male long term claimants decreased by 15,713 (-14.5%) in the year to January 2016, while females decreased by 3,676 (-6.5%), giving an overall annual decrease of 19,389 (-11.8%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and figure 2.

In January 2016, 54.8% (176,347) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for January 2015 was 54.0% (193,828).  The annual fall of 17,481 (-9.0%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 11,209 (-10.2%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 6,272 (-7.5%) in female short term claimants. See table 6.

 

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 65,270 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in January 2016, which represents 20.3% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 20.1% one year earlier when there were 72,085 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register.  In the year to January 2016 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 6,815 (-9.5%), with the number of males decreasing by 4,079 (-10.6%) and the number of females decreasing by 2,736 (-8.2%). See table 7.

Under 25 years25 years and over
January 201460537339093
January 201549289309383
January 201639806281996

Live Register age groups

In the year to January 2016 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 27,387 (-8.9%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 9,483 (-19.2%).  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 January 2016, down from 13.7% in January 2015 and 15.1% in January 2014. See tables 1(b) and 1(c) and figure 3.

 

Live Register new registrants

There were 30,592 new registrants on the Live Register in January 2016, consisting of 14,159 Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) claims, 15,010 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) claims and 1,423 ‘Other Registrants’.  Males accounted for 53.3% (16,312) and females 46.7% (14,280) of all new registrants.  On average 4,078 male and 3,570 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 January, despite the fact that the number in the group fell over the year by 9,709 (-13.6%) to 61,931.  The second largest annual percentage decrease was in the Plant and machine operatives group, which decreased by 11.5%. The two smallest occupational groups in January 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 GroupJanuary 2014January 2015January 2016
1167951573114492
2220361977317642
311284100829252
4372023369730932
5844377164061931
6505084647042333
7437133877134582
8667815931652521
9462764303238916
10205982016019201
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 28,634 (-10.5%) brought the total number of JA claimants to 243,877 in January 2016, while JB claimants decreased to 45,502 (-11.6%) over the same period.  As a result JA claimants account for 75.8% of all persons on the Live Register in January 2016 compared with 76.0% 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 Mid-East region (-11.4%) followed by the South-West region (- 10.8%) and Border region (-10.7%). See table 4.
  • In January, Irish nationals accounted for 82.9% (266,877) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 54,925 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU28 States (31,398), followed by the UK (12,087). See table 8.

 

Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of December 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 – Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes table.

There were 82,309 people availing of these programmes in December 2015, which is a decrease of 6,055 persons (-6.9%) from the previous year, when there were 88,364 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
CategoryJanuary 2015December 2015January 2016Monthly changeAnnual change
     
Males  
    JB Claims26,00221,60622,670+1,064-3,332
    JA Applications180,500158,291157,877-414-22,623
    Other Registrants12,17611,32211,209-113-967
    Total218,678191,219191,756+537-26,922
     
Females     
    JB Claims25,48823,03522,832-203-2,656
    JA Applications92,01185,91486,000+86-6,011
    Other Registrants22,49521,44821,214-234-1,281
    Total139,994130,397130,046-351-9,948
     
All Persons     
    JB Claims51,49044,64145,502+861-5,988
    JA Applications272,511244,205243,877-328-28,634
    Other Registrants34,67132,77032,423-347-2,248
    Total358,672321,616321,802+186-36,870
      
Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategoryJanuary 2015December 2015January 2016Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims1,5281,2691,433+164-95
    JA Applications27,69321,78722,203+416-5,490
    Other Registrants114102107+5-7
    Total29,33523,15823,743+585-5,592
      
Females     
    JB Claims1,5441,0691,286+217-258
    JA Applications18,24814,37814,653+275-3,595
    Other Registrants162121124+3-38
    Total19,95415,56816,063+495-3,891
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims3,0722,3382,719+381-353
    JA Applications45,94136,16536,856+691-9,085
    Other Registrants276223231+8-45
    Total49,28938,72639,806+1,080-9,483
      
Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategoryJanuary 2015December 2015January 2016Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims24,47420,33721,237900-3,237
    JA Applications152,807136,504135,674-830-17,133
    Other Registrants12,06211,22011,102-118-960
    Total189,343168,061168,013-48-21,330
      
Females     
    JB Claims23,94421,96621,546-420-2,398
    JA Applications73,76371,53671,347-189-2,416
    Other Registrants22,33321,32721,090-237-1,243
    Total120,040114,829113,983-846-6,057
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims48,41842,30342,783480-5,635
    JA Applications226,570208,040207,021-1,019-19,549
    Other Registrants34,39532,54732,192-355-2,203
    Total309,383282,890281,996-894-27,387
      
Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
  Unadjusted Series Seasonally Adjusted Series1
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
         
2014January248,700150,900399,600 247,600153,500401,100
 February247,400150,700398,100 245,800153,000398,900
March243,200148,000391,200 243,600152,700396,300
 April239,500149,000388,600 241,600153,400395,000
 May240,400148,400388,800 239,600151,100390,700
 June242,700156,100398,800 236,300149,800386,200
 July241,300163,200404,500 233,700148,500382,200
 August238,100160,300398,300 230,900147,700378,600
 September224,800145,200370,100 227,700146,700374,300
 October217,800140,900358,600 225,100145,800370,900
 November214,700137,900352,600 222,500144,500367,000
 December216,300139,800356,100 219,800143,600363,400
         
2015January218,700140,000358,700 217,500142,600360,100
 February215,900139,200355,100 214,500141,600356,100
March212,000136,600348,700 212,300141,000353,200
 April208,300135,200343,600 210,000139,500349,500
 May208,700137,000345,600 207,900139,600347,500
 June211,400145,100356,500 206,000139,100345,100
 July210,300153,300363,600 203,800139,000342,900
 August208,400150,700359,100 202,200138,400340,500
 September197,500135,300332,800 200,100136,900336,900
 October189,700131,100320,800 196,200135,900332,100
 November188,200128,400316,600 195,000134,800329,900
 December191,200130,400321,600 194,100133,900328,000
         
2016January191,800130,000321,800 190,600132,700323,200
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
         
2014January36,10024,40060,500 36,70025,50062,200
 February36,00024,20060,200 36,30025,10061,400
 March35,30023,60058,900 35,90025,10061,100
 April34,20023,10057,200 35,30024,50059,800
 May34,90023,60058,500 34,90023,90058,900
 June36,00025,40061,400 34,00023,60057,600
 July35,90026,20062,100 33,40023,10056,400
 August35,40026,10061,500 32,80022,80055,500
 September32,10023,00055,100 31,90022,30054,200
 October30,10021,10051,200 31,30021,80053,100
 November29,00019,90048,900 30,90021,50052,300
 December28,60019,30047,900 30,20021,10051,300
         
2015January29,30020,00049,300 29,80020,80050,600
 February28,80019,70048,500 29,10020,40049,500
 March28,00019,00047,100 28,60020,10048,600
 April27,30018,50045,900 28,20019,80047,900
 May27,80019,30047,100 27,70019,50047,200
 June28,80020,70049,500 27,20019,10046,300
 July28,80021,50050,300 26,80018,90045,700
 August28,60021,30049,900 26,40018,60045,000
 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 24,50017,00041,500
         
2016January23,70016,10039,800 24,10016,80040,900
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
         
2014January212,600126,500339,100 210,900128,100338,900
 February211,400126,500337,800 209,500127,900337,400
March207,900124,400332,400 207,600127,600335,300
 April205,400125,900331,300 206,300129,000335,300
 May205,500124,800330,200 204,700127,200331,900
 June206,700130,700337,400 202,300126,300328,600
 July205,400137,000342,400 200,300125,500325,800
 August202,600134,200336,800 198,200124,900323,100
 September192,700122,200314,900 195,800124,400320,200
 October187,700119,800307,400 193,800124,000317,800
 November185,700118,000303,800 191,600123,000314,700
 December187,800120,400308,200 189,600122,500312,100
         
2015January189,300120,000309,400 187,700121,800309,400
 February187,100119,500306,600 185,400121,200306,500
March184,000117,600301,600 183,700120,900304,600
 April181,000116,700297,700 181,800119,700301,500
 May180,900117,600298,500 180,200120,100300,300
 June182,600124,400307,000 178,800120,000298,800
 July181,500131,900313,300 177,100120,100297,200
 August179,800129,400309,200 175,800119,800295,600
 September171,200116,400287,600 174,000118,600292,600
 October165,600114,100279,700 171,100118,300289,300
 November164,900112,300277,200 170,200117,400287,600
 December168,100114,800282,900 169,600116,900286,500
         
2016January168,000114,000282,000 166,500115,900282,400
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           
2015January526,0028,7826,889+379 25,4888,840     8,863-5
 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
 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
            
JA Applications           
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
 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
            
Other Registrants           
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
 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
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 Regions1January 2015December 2015January 2016Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
        
Males       
      Border, Midland and Western67,98759,53659,738+202-8,2497,78451,954
      Border31,06727,04627,097+51-3,9703,65923,438
      Midland17,43515,37615,440+64-1,9952,13413,306
      West19,48517,11417,201+87-2,2841,99115,210
        
      Southern and Eastern150,691131,683132,018+335-18,67315,959116,059
      Dublin53,62346,87246,970+98-6,6535,67441,296
      Mid-East20,68417,70817,665-43-3,0192,23915,426
      Mid-West18,06416,11016,087-23-1,9772,07914,008
      South-East29,42825,89625,846-50-3,5823,27322,573
      South-West28,89225,09725,450+353-3,4422,69422,756
      Total218,678191,219191,756+537-26,92223,743168,013
        
Females       
      Border, Midland and Western45,20041,96841,873-95-3,3275,52336,350
      Border20,37418,84818,847-1-1,5272,55616,291
      Midland11,59110,92510,894-31-6971,6399,255
      West13,23512,19512,132-63-1,1031,32810,804
        
      Southern and Eastern94,79488,42988,173-256-6,62110,54077,633
      Dublin31,60929,34829,472+124-2,1373,50125,971
      Mid-East14,24613,38613,286-100-9601,55411,732
      Mid-West11,68811,14010,908-232-7801,3759,533
      South-East18,35117,38017,326-54-1,0252,31715,009
      South-West18,90017,17517,181+6-1,7191,79315,388
      Total139,994130,397130,046-351-9,94816,063113,983
        
All Persons       
      Border, Midland and Western113,187101,504101,611+107-11,57613,30788,304
      Border51,44145,89445,944+50-5,4976,21539,729
      Midland29,02626,30126,334+33-2,6923,77322,561
      West32,72029,30929,333+24-3,3873,31926,014
        
      Southern and Eastern245,485220,112220,191+79-25,29426,499193,692
      Dublin85,23276,22076,442+222-8,7909,17567,267
      Mid-East34,93031,09430,951-143-3,9793,79327,158
      Mid-West29,75227,25026,995-255-2,7573,45423,541
      South-East47,77943,27643,172-104-4,6075,59037,582
      South-West47,79242,27242,631+359-5,1614,48738,144
      Total358,672321,616321,802+186-36,87039,806281,996
1 The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes.
Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
 January 2015December 2015January 2016Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Broad occupational group
        
Males       
Managers and administrators9,0568,3278,295-32-7612478,048
Professional9,0848,3148,144-170-9405157,629
Associate professional and technical 5,7335,2445,201-43-5325574,644
Clerical and secretarial9,2858,5178,309-208-9767967,513
Craft and related 64,61155,00555,060+55-9,5513,69451,366
Personal and protective service15,93313,79514,036+241-1,8971,51612,520
Sales14,86312,40812,821+413-2,0422,9769,845
Plant and machine operatives44,75638,68539,091+406-5,6654,39134,700
Other occupation33,08929,40329,298-105-3,7914,65924,639
No occupation112,26811,52111,501-20-7674,3927,109
Total 218,678191,219191,756+537-26,92223,743168,013
        
Females       
Managers and administrators6,6756,2056,197-8-4781266,071
Professional10,6899,9919,498-493-1,1913929,106
Associate professional and technical 4,3494,0094,051+42-2982913,760
Clerical and secretarial24,41223,59022,623-967-1,78997721,646
Craft and related 7,0296,6356,871+236-1587876,084
Personal and protective service30,53728,18828,297+109-2,2403,44624,851
Sales23,90821,14321,761+618-2,1473,52718,234
Plant and machine operatives14,56013,26013,430+170-1,1301,67211,758
Other occupation9,9439,6049,618+14-3252,1477,471
No occupation17,8927,7727,700-72-1922,6985,002
Total139,994130,397130,046-351-9,94816,063113,983
        
All Persons       
Managers and administrators15,73114,53214,492-40-1,23937314,119
Professional19,77318,30517,642-663-2,13190716,735
Associate professional and technical 10,0829,2539,252-1-8308488,404
Clerical and secretarial33,69732,10730,932-1,175-2,7651,77329,159
Craft and related 71,64061,64061,931+291-9,7094,48157,450
Personal and protective service46,47041,98342,333+350-4,1374,96237,371
Sales38,77133,55134,582+1,031-4,1896,50328,079
Plant and machine operatives59,31651,94552,521+576-6,7956,06346,458
Other occupation43,03239,00738,916-91-4,1166,80632,110
No occupation120,16019,29319,201-92-9597,09012,111
Total 358,672321,616321,802+186-36,87039,806281,996
        
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
 January 2015December 2015January 2016Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Duration
        
Males
   Less than one year110,34998,02299,140+1,118-11,20916,01683,124
   One year or more108,32993,19792,616-581-15,7137,72784,889
   Total218,678191,219191,756+537-26,92223,743168,013
       
Females       
   Less than one year83,47977,42077,207-213-6,27211,44665,761
   One year or more56,51552,97752,839-138-3,6764,61748,222
   Total139,994130,397130,046-351-9,94816,063113,983
       
All Persons       
   Less than one year193,828175,442176,347+905-17,48127,462148,885
   One year or more164,844146,174145,455-719-19,38912,344133,111
   Total358,672321,616321,802+186-36,87039,806281,996
        
Table 7 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register
   MalesMonthly change FemalesMonthly change All PersonsMonthly change
          
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
 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
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  
         
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
 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
Table 9 Live Register Compositional Analysis
 January 2013January 2014January 2015January 2016
  % of total % of total % of total % of total
 NumberNumberNumberNumber
Sex        
Males273,62763.7248,72362.2218,67861.0191,75659.6
Females155,76936.3150,90737.8139,99439.0130,04640.4
Total429,396100.0399,630100.0358,672100.0321,802100.0
        
Age        
Under 25 years68,36415.960,53715.149,28913.739,80612.4
25 years and over361,03284.1339,09384.9309,38386.3281,99687.6
Total429,396100.0399,630100.0358,672100.0321,802100.0
        
Scheme        
JB Claims86,72820.261,19415.351,49014.445,50214.1
JA Applications308,84671.9302,94375.8272,51176.0243,87775.8
Other Registrants33,8227.935,4938.934,6719.732,42310.1
Total429,396100.0399,630100.0358,672100.0321,802100.0
         
Duration of Continuous Registration        
Less than one year239,53955.8218,30454.6193,82854.0176,34754.8
One year or more189,85744.2181,32645.4164,84446.0145,45545.2
Total429,396100.0399,630100.0358,672100.0321,802100.0
         
Nationality Grouping        
Irish Nationals352,95482.2329,92982.6297,18482.9266,87782.9
Non-Irish Nationals76,44217.869,70117.461,48817.154,92517.1
Total429,396100.0399,630100.0358,672100.0321,802100.0
         
NUTS2 Regions1        
Border, Midland and Western133,32331.0124,99831.3113,18731.6101,61131.6
Southern and Eastern296,07369.0274,63268.7245,48568.4220,19168.4
Total429,396100.0399,630100.0358,672100.0321,802100.0
         
Last Held Occupation        
Managers and administrators17,6684.116,7954.215,7314.414,4924.5
Professional24,4535.722,0365.519,7735.517,6425.5
Associate professional and technical12,3262.911,2842.810,0822.89,2522.9
Clerical and secretarial40,5579.437,2029.333,6979.430,9329.6
Craft and related 97,93222.884,43721.171,64020.061,93119.2
Personal and protective service51,78912.150,50812.646,47013.042,33313.2
Sales45,52810.643,71310.938,77110.834,58210.7
Plant and machine operatives69,97416.366,78116.759,31616.552,52116.3
Other occupation49,11111.446,27611.643,03212.038,91612.1
No occupation220,0584.720,5985.220,1605.619,2016.0
Total429,396100.0399,630100.0358,672100.0321,802100.0
         
Casual Status        
No casual and part-time work341,47279.5318,67279.7286,58779.9256,53279.7
Casual and part-time work87,92420.580,95820.372,08520.165,27020.3
Total429,396100.0399,630100.0358,672100.0321,802100.0
         
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.
Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes   
 December 2014November 2015December 2015
Back to Work Schemes  
Back to Work allowance scheme - Employee strand1300
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand11,16611,86111,881
Short-term Enterprise Allowance2 479430396
Total Back to Work payments 11,64812,29112,277
  
Other Activation Programmes  
DSP Part-time Job Incentive397448421
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) 7,8777,8597,939
JobBridge (2011)6,3714,8444,683
Gateway (2013)31,6852,3702,350
Total Other Activation Programmes16,33015,52115,393
      
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors) 23,24922,72322,813
  
FAS (Solas) Full Time Training for Unemployed People4 8,7717,3047,481
      
Back to Education Courses  
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)5N/AN/A5,000
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)623,36618,45919,345
Total Back to Education Courses 28,36623,45924,345
      
Total Activation Programmes88,36481,29882,309
    
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: 

January 2016 – 1st January to 28th January 2016
January 2015 – 27th December 2014 to 30th January 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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