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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

December 2015

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
December 2014356,112363,900
November 2015316,586330,400
December 2015321,616328,600
   
Change in month-- 1,800
Change in year- 34,496-

Seasonally adjusted Live Register total decreases by 1,800 in December

Live Register Seasonally Adjusted
go to full release

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 1,800 (-0.5%) in December 2015, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 328,600. See table 2(a).

In unadjusted terms there were 321,616 people signing on the Live Register in December 2015.  This represents an annual decrease of 34,496 (-9.7%). See table 1(a).

 

Other features include:

  • On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register showed a monthly decrease of 1,000 (-0.5%) males in December 2015, while females decreased by 800 (-0.6%) over the same period. See table 2(a).

  • The number of male claimants decreased by 25,120 (-11.6%) to 191,219 in the year to December 2015, while female claimants decreased by 9,376 (-6.7%) to 130,397.  This compares with a decrease of 29,382 (-12.0%) to 216,339 for males, while female claimants decreased by 9,917 (-6.6%) to 139,773 in the year to December 2014. See table 1(a).

 

The Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) has been discontinued and has been replaced by the Monthly Unemployment release which is available here.

The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment.  It includes part-time workers (those who work up to three days a week), seasonal and casual workers entitled to Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) or Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA).  Unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey.

 

0
DurationLess than one yearOne year or more
Dec 2013215790179621
Jan 2014218304181326
Feb 2014217573180496
Mar 2014211897179335
Apr 2014210334178225
May 2014205394183370
June 2014209955188858
July 2014215845188670
Aug 2014210727187598
Sept 2014191662178388
Oct 2014187738170892
Nov 2014186175166472
Dec 2014191316164796
Jan 2015193828164844
Feb 2015192348162776
Mar 2015188273160403
April 2015185063158488
May 2015183749161884
June 2015190032166488
July 2015198206165422
Aug 2015194807164269
Sept 2015175947156854
Oct 2015171191149603
Nov 2015169793146793
Dec 2015175442146174

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in December 2015 was 146,174.  The number of male long term claimants decreased by 15,287 (-14.1%) in the year to December 2015, while females decreased by 3,335 (-5.9%), giving an overall annual decrease of 18,622 (-11.3%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and graph above.

In December 2015, 54.6% (175,442) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for December 2014 was 53.7% (191,316).  The annual fall of 15,874 (-8.3%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 9,833 (-9.1%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 6,041 (-7.2%) in female short term claimants. See table 6.

 

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 65,678 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in December 2015, which represents 20.4% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 20.3% one year earlier when there were 72,362 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register. In the year to December 2015 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 6,684 (-9.2%), with the number of males decreasing by 3,944 (-10.2%) and the number of females decreasing by 2,740 (-8.1%). See table 7.

 

Under 25 years25 years and over
December 201359148336263
December 201447928308184
December 201538726282890

Live Register age groups

In the year to December 2015 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 25,294 (-8.2%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 9,202 (-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 12.0% for December 2015, down from 13.5% in December 2014 and 15.0% in December 2013. See tables 1(b) and 1(c) and graph above.

Live Register new registrants

There were 24,892 new registrants on the Live Register in December 2015, consisting of 10,647 Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) claims, 12,907 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) claims and 1,338 ‘Other Registrants’.  Males accounted for 56.4% (14,046) and females 43.6% (10,846) of all new registrants.  On average 2,809 male and 2,169 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 December, despite the fact that the number in the group fell over the year by 9,258 (-13.1%) to 61,640.  The second largest annual percentage decrease was in the Plant and machine operatives group, which decreased by 10.9%. The two smallest occupational groups in December 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 graph below.

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

Broad Occupational GroupDecember 2013December 2014December 2015
1163591543214532
2224852052818305
311280101109253
4377823471832107
5838757089861640
6496894575841983
7421183750533551
8653105832251945
9459714265839007
10205422018319293
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 27,441 (-10.1%) brought the total number of JA claimants to 244,205 in December 2015, while JB claimants decreased to 44,641 (-10.0%) over the same period.  As a result JA claimants account for 75.9% of all persons on the Live Register in December 2015 compared with 76.3% 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 (-10.3%) followed by the West and Dublin regions, both of which decreased by 10.0%. See table 4.

  • In December, Irish nationals accounted for 83.1% (267,168) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 54,448 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU28 States (30,887), followed by the UK (12,068). See table 8.

     

Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of November 2015 on the number of people availing of a range of programmes targeted primarily at the long-term unemployed (over 12 months) and other welfare recipients is provided in the Annex – Live Register Activation Programmes table.

There were 81,298 people availing of these programmes in November 2015, which is a decrease of 6,325 persons (-7.2%) from the previous year, when there were 87,623 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
CategoryDecember 2014November 2015December 2015Monthly changeAnnual change
     
Males  
    JB Claims24,10919,68721,606+1,919-2,503
    JA Applications179,998157,225158,291+1,066-21,707
    Other Registrants12,23211,24211,322+80-910
    Total216,339188,154191,219+3,065-25,120
     
Females     
    JB Claims25,51120,99323,035+2,042-2,476
    JA Applications91,64886,16085,914-246-5,734
    Other Registrants22,61421,27921,448+169-1,166
    Total139,773128,432130,397+1,965-9,376
     
All Persons     
    JB Claims49,62040,68044,641+3,961-4,979
    JA Applications271,646243,385244,205+820-27,441
    Other Registrants34,84632,52132,770+249-2,076
    Total356,112316,586321,616+5,030-34,496
      
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 Table 1(a) (XLS 32KB)
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Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategoryDecember 2014November 2015December 2015Monthly changeAnnual change
    
Males   
    JB Claims1,2441,1661,269+103+25
    JA Applications27,23421,97821,787-191-5,447
    Other Registrants107110102-8-5
    Total28,58523,25423,158-96-5,427
      
Females     
    JB Claims1,3131,1221,069-53-244
    JA Applications17,87414,87914,378-501-3,496
    Other Registrants156112121+9-35
    Total19,34316,11315,568-545-3,775
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims2,5572,2882,338+50-219
    JA Applications45,10836,85736,165-692-8,943
    Other Registrants263222223+1-40
    Total47,92839,36738,726-641-9,202
      
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 Table 1(b) (XLS 32KB)
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Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategoryDecember 2014November 2015December 2015Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims22,86518,52120,337+1,816-2,528
    JA Applications152,764135,247136,504+1,257-16,260
    Other Registrants12,12511,13211,220+88-905
    Total187,754164,900168,061+3,161-19,693
      
Females     
    JB Claims24,19819,87121,966+2,095-2,232
    JA Applications73,77471,28171,536+255-2,238
    Other Registrants22,45821,16721,327+160-1,131
    Total120,430112,319114,829+2,510-5,601
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims47,06338,39242,303+3,911-4,760
    JA Applications226,538206,528208,040+1,512-18,498
    Other Registrants34,58332,29932,547+248-2,036
    Total308,184277,219282,890+5,671-25,294
      
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 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
         
2013December245,700149,700395,400 250,000153,900403,800
         
2014January248,700150,900399,600 247,700153,600401,300
 February247,400150,700398,100 245,900153,100399,000
March243,200148,000391,200 244,000153,000397,000
 April239,500149,000388,600 240,700152,200392,900
 May240,400148,400388,800 239,500151,200390,700
 June242,700156,100398,800 236,100149,800385,900
 July241,300163,200404,500 233,500148,700382,200
 August238,100160,300398,300 230,900147,900378,800
 September224,800145,200370,100 227,700146,800374,500
 October217,800140,900358,600 225,300145,900371,200
 November214,700137,900352,600 222,900144,600367,500
 December216,300139,800356,100 220,100143,700363,900
         
2015January218,700140,000358,700 217,700142,600360,200
 February215,900139,200355,100 214,600141,600356,200
March212,000136,600348,700 211,900139,800351,600
 April208,300135,200343,600 209,900139,800349,800
 May208,700137,000345,600 207,700139,600347,300
 June211,400145,100356,500 205,700139,100344,800
 July210,300153,300363,600 203,600139,200342,800
 August208,400150,700359,100 202,100138,700340,700
 September197,500135,300332,800 200,100136,900337,000
 October189,700131,100320,800 196,500136,000332,400
 November188,200128,400316,600 195,500134,900330,400
 December191,200130,400321,600 194,500134,100328,600
1 Table contains revised figures.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 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
         
2013December35,30023,80059,100 37,20025,80063,000
         
2014January36,10024,40060,500 36,70025,50062,200
 February36,00024,20060,200 36,30025,10061,400
March35,30023,60058,900 36,00025,10061,100
 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 33,40023,10056,500
 August35,40026,10061,500 32,80022,80055,600
 September32,10023,00055,100 31,90022,30054,100
 October30,10021,10051,200 31,30021,80053,100
 November29,00019,90048,900 30,90021,40052,300
 December28,60019,30047,900 30,20021,00051,200
         
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 27,70019,60047,200
 June28,80020,70049,500 27,20019,20046,400
 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 25,10017,60042,700
 November23,30016,10039,400 24,80017,40042,200
 December23,20015,60038,700 24,50017,00041,500
1 Table contains revised figures.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 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
         
2013December210,400125,900336,300 212,800128,100340,900
         
2014January212,600126,500339,100 211,000128,100339,200
 February211,400126,500337,800 209,600128,000337,600
March207,900124,400332,400 208,000127,900335,900
 April205,400125,900331,300 205,400127,700333,100
 May205,500124,800330,200 204,600127,300331,800
 June206,700130,700337,400 202,100126,200328,300
 July205,400137,000342,400 200,100125,600325,800
 August202,600134,200336,800 198,100125,100323,200
 September192,700122,200314,900 195,800124,500320,300
 October187,700119,800307,400 194,000124,100318,100
 November185,700118,000303,800 192,000123,200315,200
 December187,800120,400308,200 189,900122,700312,600
         
2015January189,300120,000309,400 187,900121,800309,600
 February187,100119,500306,600 185,400121,200306,600
March184,000117,600301,600 183,300119,700303,000
 April181,000116,700297,700 181,700120,100301,800
 May180,900117,600298,500 180,000120,100300,000
 June182,600124,400307,000 178,500119,900298,400
 July181,500131,900313,300 176,800120,300297,100
 August179,800129,400309,200 175,700120,100295,800
 September171,200116,400287,600 174,000118,700292,700
 October165,600114,100279,700 171,300118,400289,700
 November164,900112,300277,200 170,700117,500288,200
 December168,100114,800282,900 170,000117,100287,200
1 Table contains revised figures.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 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           
2014December424,1094,8453,301+386 25,5115,300     3,322+495
            
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
            
JA Applications           
2014December4179,9987,8257,767+15 91,6484,7444,968-56
            
2015January5180,50011,06610,564+100 92,0117,2676,904+73
 February4178,0778,88911,312-606 91,5216,0636,553-123
March4175,2247,92310,776-713 90,4985,2856,308-256
 April 4172,6627,68010,242-641 89,6495,3996,248-212
 May5173,86710,4739,268+241 91,8527,3195,116+441
 June4176,9019,3746,340+759 97,4119,4413,882+1,390
 July5175,95110,92211,872-190 99,2309,1677,348+364
 August4174,8758,0949,170-269 98,8325,7146,112-100
 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
            
Other Registrants           
2014December412,232442431+3 22,614813715+25
            
2015January512,176604660-11 22,4951,1861,305-24
 February412,212485449+9 22,469910936-7
March412,112393493-25 22,269660860-50
 April 412,079410443-8 22,2421,0331,060-7
 May512,072472479-1 22,308862796+13
 June412,015407464-14 22,399971880+23
 July511,869569715-29 22,8431,6341,190+89
 August411,824368413-11 22,667719895-44
 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
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 December 2015 Table 3 (XLS 38KB)
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Table 4 Persons on the Live Register classified by region
NUTS2 and NUTS3 Regions1December 2014November 2015December 2015Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
        
Males       
      Border, Midland and Western67,27358,56859,536+968-7,7377,61951,917
      Border30,70126,69027,046+356-3,6553,56423,482
      Midland17,27915,19415,376+182-1,9032,08613,290
      West19,29316,68417,114+430-2,1791,96915,145
        
      Southern and Eastern149,066129,586131,683+2,097-17,38315,539116,144
      Dublin53,26646,83546,872+37-6,3945,50941,363
      Mid-East20,43717,57017,708+138-2,7292,18915,519
      Mid-West18,10015,61016,110+500-1,9902,05214,058
      South-East29,07125,27625,896+620-3,1753,24822,648
      South-West28,19224,29525,097+802-3,0952,54122,556
      Total216,339188,154191,219+3,065-25,12023,158168,061
        
Females       
      Border, Midland and Western45,08541,34741,968+621-3,1175,32736,641
      Border20,25418,58118,848+267-1,4062,45516,393
      Midland11,54810,82510,925+100-6231,5959,330
      West13,28311,94112,195+254-1,0881,27710,918
        
      Southern and Eastern94,68887,08588,429+1,344-6,25910,24178,188
      Dublin31,44129,36029,348-12-2,0933,35025,998
      Mid-East14,23613,24013,386+146-8501,54911,837
      Mid-West11,95610,81511,140+325-8161,3379,803
      South-East18,40117,09417,380+286-1,0212,31015,070
      South-West18,65416,57617,175+599-1,4791,69515,480
      Total139,773128,432130,397+1,965-9,37615,568114,829
        
All Persons       
      Border, Midland and Western112,35899,915101,504+1,589-10,85412,94688,558
      Border50,95545,27145,894+623-5,0616,01939,875
      Midland28,82726,01926,301+282-2,5263,68122,620
      West32,57628,62529,309+684-3,2673,24626,063
        
      Southern and Eastern243,754216,671220,112+3,441-23,64225,780194,332
      Dublin84,70776,19576,220+25-8,4878,85967,361
      Mid-East34,67330,81031,094+284-3,5793,73827,356
      Mid-West30,05626,42527,250+825-2,8063,38923,861
      South-East47,47242,37043,276+906-4,1965,55837,718
      South-West46,84640,87142,272+1,401-4,5744,23638,036
      Total356,112316,586321,616+5,030-34,49638,726282,890
1 The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 Table 4 (XLS 35KB)
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Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
 December 2014November 2015December 2015Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Broad occupational group
        
Males       
Managers and administrators8,9108,2638,327+64-5832318,096
Professional9,2428,1148,314+200-9285297,785
Associate professional and technical 5,6905,1595,244+85-4465684,676
Clerical and secretarial9,3908,2528,517+265-8737667,751
Craft and related 64,14154,06355,005+942-9,1363,64351,362
Personal and protective service15,60913,65013,795+145-1,8141,46512,330
Sales14,31512,50512,408-97-1,9072,7179,691
Plant and machine operatives43,96937,57738,685+1,108-5,2844,16834,517
Other occupation32,78829,07129,403+332-3,3854,68624,717
No occupation112,28511,50011,521+21-7644,3857,136
Total 216,339188,154191,219+3,065-25,12023,158168,061
        
Females       
Managers and administrators6,5226,0966,205+109-3171306,075
Professional11,2869,5459,991+446-1,2954359,556
Associate professional and technical 4,4204,0174,009-8-4112833,726
Clerical and secretarial25,32822,40223,590+1,188-1,73893422,656
Craft and related 6,7576,5316,635+104-1227275,908
Personal and protective service30,14927,73328,188+455-1,9613,35124,837
Sales23,19021,37821,143-235-2,0473,18817,955
Plant and machine operatives14,35313,20613,260+54-1,0931,61211,648
Other occupation9,8709,6599,604-55-2662,1607,444
No occupation17,8987,8657,772-93-1262,7485,024
Total139,773128,432130,397+1,965-9,37615,568114,829
        
All Persons       
Managers and administrators15,43214,35914,532+173-90036114,171
Professional20,52817,65918,305+646-2,22396417,341
Associate professional and technical 10,1109,1769,253+77-8578518,402
Clerical and secretarial34,71830,65432,107+1,453-2,6111,70030,407
Craft and related 70,89860,59461,640+1,046-9,2584,37057,270
Personal and protective service45,75841,38341,983+600-3,7754,81637,167
Sales37,50533,88333,551-332-3,9545,90527,646
Plant and machine operatives58,32250,78351,945+1,162-6,3775,78046,165
Other occupation42,65838,73039,007+277-3,6516,84632,161
No occupation120,18319,36519,293-72-8907,13312,160
Total 356,112316,586321,616+5,030-34,49638,726282,890
        
1 Includes those who never worked and those who have no stated occupation.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 Table 5 (XLS 36KB)
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Table 6 Persons on the Live Register classified by duration of continuous registration
 December 2014November 2015December 2015Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Duration
        
Males
   Less than one year107,85594,64598,022+3,377-9,83315,47682,546
   One year or more108,48493,50993,197-312-15,2877,68285,515
   Total216,339188,154191,219+3,065-25,12023,158168,061
       
Females       
   Less than one year83,46175,14877,420+2,272-6,04110,97566,445
   One year or more56,31253,28452,977-307-3,3354,59348,384
   Total139,773128,432130,397+1,965-9,37615,568114,829
       
All Persons       
   Less than one year191,316169,793175,442+5,649-15,87426,451148,991
   One year or more164,796146,793146,174-619-18,62212,275133,899
   Total356,112316,586321,616+5,030-34,49638,726282,890
        
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 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
         
2013December 43,927+16 37,455-123 81,382-107
          
2014January 43,706-221 37,252-203 80,958-424
 February 43,860+154 37,344+92 81,204+246
March 43,032-828 36,779-565 79,811-1,393
 April 42,207-825 36,158-621 78,365-1,446
 May 41,310-897 35,452-706 76,762-1,603
 June 41,083-227 35,478+26 76,561-201
 July 40,562-521 35,168-310 75,730-831
 August 39,709-853 34,417-751 74,126-1,604
 September 38,481-1,228 33,263-1,154 71,744-2,382
 October 38,275-206 33,177-86 71,452-292
 November 38,714+439 33,563+386 72,277+825
 December 38,681-33 33,681+118 72,362+85
          
2015January 38,549-132 33,536-145 72,085-277
 February 38,443-106 33,712+176 72,155+70
March 38,119-324 33,285-427 71,404-751
 April 37,401-718 32,780-505 70,181-1,223
 May 36,899-502 32,360-420 69,259-922
 June 36,854-45 32,611+251 69,465+206
 July 36,457-397 32,342-269 68,799-666
 August 35,795-662 31,693-649 67,488-1,311
 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
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 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  
          
2013December15,2013,71138,22111,344 68,477326,934395,411
         
2014January15,2533,83039,26311,355 69,701329,929399,630
 February15,1473,83639,33711,372 69,692328,377398,069
March14,9183,65038,58711,267 68,422322,810391,232
 April 14,7573,63837,86711,133 67,395321,164388,559
 May14,6823,64837,09211,388 66,810321,954388,764
 June15,0343,75136,77211,793 67,350331,463398,813
 July15,1733,71236,39911,656 66,940337,575404,515
 August14,9853,67435,44511,280 65,384332,941398,325
 September14,0753,49433,84310,099 61,511308,539370,050
 October13,6873,46033,3249,420 59,891298,739358,630
 November13,5493,64133,5789,133 59,901292,746352,647
 December13,6323,64434,0909,074 60,440295,672356,112
        
2015January13,6653,68835,2198,916 61,488297,184358,672
 February13,5373,60135,1668,706 61,010294,114355,124
March13,3143,38934,4468,710 59,859288,817348,676
 April 13,0543,30633,6708,671 58,701284,850343,551
 May13,0413,30033,1388,920 58,399287,234345,633
 June13,3513,38133,1959,419 59,346297,174356,520
 July13,4633,41832,6599,433 58,973304,655363,628
 August13,2643,39532,2169,431 58,306300,770359,076
 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
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 Table 8 (XLS 35KB)
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Table 9 Live Register Compositional Analysis
 December 2012December 2013December 2014December 2015
  % of total % of total % of total % of total
 NumberNumberNumberNumber
Sex        
Males269,88663.7245,72162.1216,33960.8191,21959.5
Females153,84736.3149,69037.9139,77339.2130,39740.5
Total423,733100.0395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0
        
Age        
Under 25 years66,94415.859,14815.047,92813.538,72612.0
25 years and over356,78984.2336,26385.0308,18486.5282,89088.0
Total423,733100.0395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0
        
Scheme        
JB Claims84,59120.059,64615.149,62013.944,64113.9
JA Applications305,63472.1300,59076.0271,64676.3244,20575.9
Other Registrants33,5087.935,1758.934,8469.832,77010.2
Total423,733100.0395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0
         
Duration of Continuous Registration        
Less than one year236,58955.8215,79054.6191,31653.7175,44254.6
One year or more187,14444.2179,62145.4164,79646.3146,17445.4
Total423,733100.0395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0
         
Nationality Grouping        
Irish Nationals349,19482.4326,93482.7295,67283.0267,16883.1
Non-Irish Nationals74,53917.668,47717.360,44017.054,44816.9
Total423,733100.0395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0
         
NUTS2 Regions1        
Border, Midland and Western132,02131.2123,68031.3112,35831.6101,50431.6
Southern and Eastern291,71268.8271,73168.7243,75468.4220,11268.4
Total423,733100.0395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0
         
Last Held Occupation        
Managers and administrators16,9674.016,3594.115,4324.314,5324.5
Professional24,6865.822,4855.720,5285.818,3055.7
Associate professional and technical12,1832.911,2802.910,1102.89,2532.9
Clerical and secretarial40,9369.737,7829.634,7189.732,10710.0
Craft and related 97,20822.983,87521.270,89819.961,64019.2
Personal and protective service50,83312.049,68912.645,75812.841,98313.1
Sales44,04910.442,11810.737,50510.533,55110.4
Plant and machine operatives68,46416.265,31016.558,32216.451,94516.2
Other occupation48,70611.545,97111.642,65812.039,00712.1
No occupation219,7014.620,5425.220,1835.719,2936.0
Total423,733100.0395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0
         
Casual Status        
No casual and part-time work335,66479.2314,02979.4283,75079.7255,93879.6
Casual and part-time work88,06920.881,38220.672,36220.365,67820.4
Total423,733100.0395,411100.0356,112100.0321,616100.0
         
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 December 2015 Table 9 (XLS 16KB)
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Live Register Activation Programmes    
 November 2014October 2015November 2015
Back to Work Schemes   
Back to Work allowance scheme - Employee strand1500
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand11,00911,81411,861
Short-term Enterprise Allowance2 492451430
Total Back to Work payments 11,50612,26512,291
   
Other Activation Programmes   
DSP Part-time Job Incentive393423448
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) 7,8607,8437,859
JobBridge (2011)6,7424,8664,844
Gateway (2013)31,4632,3542,370
Total Other Activation Programmes16,45815,48615,521
       
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors) 23,03522,48822,723
   
FAS (Solas) Full Time Training for Unemployed People4 8,9107,2907,304
       
Back to Education Courses   
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)5N/AN/AN/A
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)622,71418,04718,459
Total Back to Education Courses 27,71423,04723,459
       
Total Activation Programmes87,62380,57681,298
   
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.
Open in Excel: Live Register December 2015 - 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: 

December 2015 – 27th November to 31st December 2015
December 2014 – 29th November to 26th December 2014

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, to see these please click here.

 

Casual and part-time workers

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

 

Nationality

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

For further information or assistance use the contact details on the front page of the release or e-mail labour@cso.ie

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http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/lr/liveregisterdecember2015/

Contact:

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Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

Tel:
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