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International comparison:
Eurostat
See also:
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For more information on this release:
E-mail: labour@cso.ie Sabrina Bowen (+353) 21 453 5151 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 2017

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
December 2016276,502282,200
November 2017233,209244,200
December 2017236,268241,300
   
Change in month-- 2,900
Change in year- 40,234-

Seasonally adjusted Live Register total decreases by 2,900 in December

Live Register seasonally adjusted
go to full release

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 2,900 (-1.2%) in December 2017, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 241,300. The number of persons on the Live Register in December 2017 is also the lowest number recorded in the seasonally adjusted series since August 2008. See table 2(a).

In unadjusted terms there were 236,268 persons signing on the Live Register in December 2017. This represents an annual decrease of 40,234 (-14.6%). See table 1(a).

Other features include:

  • On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register showed a monthly decrease of 1,800 (-1.3%) males in December 2017, while females decreased by 900 (-0.9%) over the same period. See table 2(a).
  • The number of male claimants decreased by 25,259 (-15.7%) to 135,329 in the year to December 2017, while female claimants decreased by 14,975 (-12.9%) to 100,939. This compares with a decrease of 30,522 (-16.0%) to 160,588 for males, while female claimants decreased by 14,349 (-11.0%) to 115,914 in the year to December 2016. See table 1(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 Quarterly National Household Survey.

The Monthly Unemployment Rate (seasonally adjusted) is published in the Monthly Unemployment release.

0
DurationLess than one yearOne year or more
December 2015175286146087
January 2016176143145370
February 2016176063143386
March 2016174427140937
April 2016167357138183
May 2016166397140425
June 2016171883143771
July 2016177093141902
August 2016175760140258
September 2016155532130571
October 2016151993124816
November 2016151452121708
December 2016156651119851
January 2017157629119263
February 2017158045117048
March 2017153245113957
April 2017151610111807
May 2017148930113772
June 2017153521115205
July 2017160457113928
August 2017152457111799
September 2017138980105339
October 2017134902101590
November 201713430498905
December 201713835097918

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in December 2017 was 97,918. The number of male long term claimants decreased by 14,828 (-20.1%) in the year to December 2017, while females decreased by 7,105 (-15.5%), giving an overall annual decrease of 21,933 (-18.3%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and figure 2.

In December 2017, 58.6% (138,350) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for December 2016 was 56.7% (156,651). The annual fall of 18,301 (-11.7%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 10,431 (-12.0%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 7,870 (-11.2%) in female short term claimants. See table 6.

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 51,159 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in December 2017, which represents 21.7% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 59,908 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register one year earlier, which also represented 21.7% of the total Live Register.  In the year to December 2017 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 8,749 (-14.6%), with the number of males decreasing by 5,036 (-16.2%) and the number of females decreasing by 3,713 (-12.9%). See table 7.

Under 25 years25 years and over
December 201538688282685
December 201630285246217
December 201724675211593

Live Register age groups

In the year to December 2017 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 34,624 (-14.1%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 5,610 (-18.5%).  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 10.4% for December 2017, down from 11.0% in December 2016 and 12.0% in December 2015. See tables 1(b) and 1(c) and figure 3.

Live Register new registrants

There were 15,293 new registrants on the Live Register in December 2017, consisting of 7,461 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) claims, 7,200 Jobseekers Benefit (JB) claims and 632 “Other Registrants”. Males accounted for 53.5% (8,177) and females 46.5% (7,116) of all new registrants. JA claims represented 48.8% of all new registrations, while JB claims and “Other Registrants” represented 47.1% and 4.1% respectively.  See table 3.

Live Register last occupation held

Craft and related (17.6%) 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 8,607 (-17.1%) to 41,622. This was also largest annual percentage decrease followed by the Sales group which decreased 16.9%.

The two smallest occupational groups in December were the Associate professional and technical and the Managers and administrators groups which accounted for 3.2% and 4.9% of the Live Register respectively. See table 5 and figure 4.

Broad Occupational GroupDecember 2015December 2016December 2017
1145161301411493
2182861658014261
3923785437667
4320702919325790
5616155022941622
6419423653631611
7335142842723631
8519144388136813
9389893318529102
10192901691414278
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 35,247 (-17.1%) brought the total number of JA claimants to 170,726 in December 2017, while JB claimants decreased to 37,833 (-6.4%) over the same period.  As a result JA claimants account for 72.3% of all persons on the Live Register in December 2017 compared with 74.5% 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 Midland region (-16.4%) followed by the Mid-West region (-15.8%). See table 4.
  • In December, Irish nationals accounted for 82.5% (194,944) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 41,324 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU28 States (22,679), followed by the UK (9,118). See table 8.

Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of November 2017 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 63,557 people availing of these programmes in November 2017, which is a decrease of 8,272 persons (-11.5%) from the previous year, when there were 71,829 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 2016November 2017December 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims18,87316,65517,946+1,291-927
    JA Applications131,619108,163108,273+110-23,346
    Other Registrants10,0969,1419,110-31-986
    Total160,588133,959135,329+1,370-25,259
 
Females
    JB Claims21,54818,16919,887+1,718-1,661
    JA Applications74,35462,48562,453-32-11,901
    Other Registrants20,01218,59618,599+3-1,413
    Total115,91499,250100,939+1,689-14,975
 
All Persons
    JB Claims40,42134,82437,833+3,009-2,588
    JA Applications205,973170,648170,726+78-35,247
    Other Registrants30,10827,73727,709-28-2,399
    Total276,502233,209236,268+3,059-40,234
Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategoryDecember 2016November 2017December 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims9389731,023+50+85
    JA Applications16,85013,55613,409-147-3,441
    Other Registrants1028679-7-23
    Total17,89014,61514,511-104-3,379
 
Females
    JB Claims985872881+9-104
    JA Applications11,3239,3779,204-173-2,119
    Other Registrants878779-8-8
    Total12,39510,33610,164-172-2,231
 
All Persons
    JB Claims1,9231,8451,904+59-19
    JA Applications28,17322,93322,613-320-5,560
    Other Registrants189173158-15-31
    Total30,28524,95124,675-276-5,610
Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategoryDecember 2016November 2017December 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
Males
    JB Claims17,93515,68216,923+1,241-1,012
    JA Applications114,76994,60794,864+257-19,905
    Other Registrants9,9949,0559,031-24-963
    Total142,698119,344120,818+1,474-21,880
 
Females
    JB Claims20,56317,29719,006+1,709-1,557
    JA Applications63,03153,10853,249+141-9,782
    Other Registrants19,92518,50918,520+11-1,405
    Total103,51988,91490,775+1,861-12,744
 
All Persons
    JB Claims38,49832,97935,929+2,950-2,569
    JA Applications177,800147,715148,113+398-29,687
    Other Registrants29,91927,56427,551-13-2,368
    Total246,217208,258211,593+3,335-34,624
Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
 Unadjusted SeriesSeasonally Adjusted Series¹
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
2015December191,110130,263321,373193,500133,800327,300
 
2016January191,631129,882321,513190,500132,500323,100
 February190,120129,329319,449188,400131,300319,700
 March186,221129,143315,364185,600130,700316,200
 April181,386124,154305,540183,000129,300312,300
 May181,232125,590306,822180,200128,000308,100
 June181,980133,674315,654177,500127,600305,100
 July180,414138,581318,995175,100124,800299,900
 August178,515137,503316,018173,400126,300299,700
 September166,522119,581286,103169,200122,000291,200
 October161,307115,502276,809167,300120,900288,200
 November158,996114,164273,160165,100120,500285,600
 December160,588115,914276,502162,800119,400282,200
 
2017January161,365115,527276,892160,300118,000278,400
 February159,748115,345275,093158,100117,000275,100
 March155,716111,486267,202155,800115,300271,100
 April152,653110,764263,417153,200113,400266,600
 May152,460110,242262,702151,500112,400263,900
 June152,665116,061268,726149,000110,200259,300
 July151,513122,872274,385147,100109,500256,600
 August148,265115,991264,256144,100105,400249,500
 September140,120104,199244,319142,500106,700249,300
 October135,968100,524236,492141,000105,900246,900
 November133,95999,250233,209139,000105,100244,200
 December135,329100,939236,268 137,200104,200241,300
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
2015December23,14215,54638,688 24,60017,20041,800
 
2016January23,72716,02439,75124,00016,80040,900
 February23,66416,08439,74823,70016,60040,300
 March22,74615,63038,37623,00016,20039,200
 April21,99214,91436,90622,50015,80038,400
 May22,17215,49037,66222,00015,60037,600
 June22,75416,76539,51921,50015,40036,900
 July22,60617,23739,84321,10015,00036,100
 August22,34717,13439,48120,70014,90035,600
 September19,99814,51734,51519,90014,20034,100
 October18,80613,40232,20819,70014,10033,800
 November18,06012,75230,81219,40014,00033,400
 December17,89012,39530,28519,00013,70032,700
 
2017January18,46012,93631,39618,70013,60032,300
 February18,39813,07831,47618,40013,40031,800
 March18,11012,73930,84918,30013,30031,600
 April17,34012,38529,72517,80013,00030,700
 May17,59612,65730,25317,50012,70030,200
 June18,02313,70931,73217,10012,50029,600
 July17,94914,28832,23716,80012,40029,200
 August17,87013,81331,68316,50012,00028,600
 September16,43612,03528,47116,40011,80028,200
 October15,40411,02926,43316,10011,70027,800
 November14,61510,33624,95115,70011,30027,100
 December14,51110,16424,675 15,40011,30026,700
¹ Table contains revised figures
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
2015December167,968114,717282,685 168,900116,600285,500
 
2016January167,904113,858281,762 166,500115,700282,200
 February166,456113,245279,701 164,700114,700279,400
 March163,475113,513276,988 162,600114,400277,000
 April159,394109,240268,634 160,400113,500273,900
 May159,060110,100269,160 158,200112,400270,500
 June159,226116,909276,135 156,000112,200268,200
 July157,808121,344279,152 154,000109,800263,800
 August156,168120,369276,537 152,700111,400264,100
 September146,524105,064251,588 149,300107,800257,100
 October142,501102,100244,601 147,600106,800254,400
 November140,936101,412242,348 145,700106,500252,200
 December142,698103,519246,217 143,800105,700249,500
 
2017January142,905102,591245,496 141,600104,400246,100
 February141,350102,267243,617 139,700103,600243,300
 March137,60698,747236,353 137,600102,000239,500
 April135,31398,379233,692 135,400100,400235,800
 May134,86497,585232,449 134,10099,700233,800
 June134,642102,352236,994 132,00097,700229,700
 July133,564108,584242,148 130,30097,100227,400
 August130,395102,178232,573 127,60093,400221,000
 September123,68492,164215,848 126,20094,900221,100
 October120,56489,495210,059 124,90094,300219,200
 November119,34488,914208,258 123,30093,800217,100
 December120,81890,775211,593 121,80092,900214,600
¹ Table contains revised figures
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
2016December18,8734,22514,6482,261 21,5484,76016,7882,166 40,4218,98531,4364,427
 
2017January19,8314,36915,4623,009 21,4334,18017,2533,908 41,2648,54932,7156,917
 February19,8503,73816,1123,207 21,8134,31217,5013,386 41,6638,05033,6136,593
 March18,6463,64415,0024,173 19,8883,15016,7384,426 38,5346,79431,7408,599
 April18,1243,27314,8513,213 20,1943,79316,4012,906 38,3187,06631,2526,119
 May17,4593,15114,3083,349 18,9782,90316,0753,621 36,4376,05430,3836,970
 June17,6484,05813,5903,358 22,3266,97915,3472,936 39,97411,03728,9376,294
 July18,1903,77414,4162,688 27,8328,32019,5122,270 46,02212,09433,9284,958
 August17,3453,40213,9433,675 23,4413,88219,5597,644 40,7867,28433,50211,319
 September16,1572,98913,1683,752 18,2623,03315,2297,776 34,4196,02228,39711,528
 October16,0283,22512,8032,898 17,6093,07914,5303,182 33,6376,30427,3336,080
 November16,6554,24712,4083,079 18,1694,07414,0952,951 34,8248,32126,5036,030
 December17,9463,37814,5681,629 19,8873,82216,0651,677 37,8337,20030,6333,306
 
JA Applications
2016December131,6197,047124,5727,311 74,3544,01470,3404,757 205,97311,061194,91212,068
 
2017January131,5216,781124,7407,282 74,2614,28569,9764,681 205,78211,066194,71611,963
 February129,9246,894123,0308,934 73,7534,40969,3445,324 203,67711,303192,37414,258
 March127,2566,871120,38510,106 72,1244,08568,0396,195 199,38010,956188,42416,301
 April124,4005,362119,0388,715 71,0343,41667,6184,907 195,4348,778186,65613,622
 May124,9928,975116,0178,777 71,8655,67066,1955,215 196,85714,645182,21213,992
 June125,38610,294115,09210,312 74,1417,58066,5615,775 199,52717,874181,65316,087
 July123,6826,133117,5498,292 74,9205,19269,7284,776 198,60211,325187,27713,068
 August121,4027,056114,3469,843 72,9534,61668,3376,998 194,35511,672182,68316,841
 September114,6716,295108,37613,403 67,0424,11062,93210,332 181,71310,405171,30823,735
 October110,7446,184104,56010,497 64,1803,86660,3147,109 174,92410,050164,87417,606
 November108,1637,162101,00110,208 62,4854,29958,1866,382 170,64811,461159,18716,590
 December108,2734,584103,6894,886 62,4532,87759,5763,216 170,7267,461163,2658,102
 
Other Registrants
2016December10,0962609,836371 20,01251419,498612 30,10877429,334983
 
2017January10,0132059,808287 19,83337119,462634 29,84657629,270921
 February9,9742369,738346 19,77967919,100870 29,75391528,8381,216
 March9,8141989,616464 19,47432919,145804 29,28852728,7611,268
 April10,1295789,551347 19,53657418,962693 29,6651,15228,5131,040
 May10,0092199,790409 19,39932419,075586 29,40854328,865995
 June9,6312399,392717 19,59470218,892730 29,22594128,2841,447
 July9,6412489,393329 20,12086019,260513 29,7611,10828,653842
 August9,5182269,292413 19,59750719,0901,245 29,11573328,3821,658
 September9,2922039,089482 18,89538118,5141,203 28,18758427,6031,685
 October9,1962238,973386 18,73538518,350717 27,93160827,3231,103
 November9,1412788,863408 18,59642618,170741 27,73770427,0331,149
 December9,1102158,895292 18,59941718,182534 27,70963227,077826
 
All Schemes
2016December160,58811,532149,0569,943 115,9149,288106,6267,535 276,50220,820255,68217,478
 
2017January161,36511,355150,01010,578 115,5278,836106,6919,223 276,89220,191256,70119,801
 February159,74810,868148,88012,487 115,3459,400105,9459,580 275,09320,268254,82522,067
 March155,71610,713145,00314,743 111,4867,564103,92211,425 267,20218,277248,92526,168
 April152,6539,213143,44012,275 110,7647,783102,9818,506 263,41716,996246,42120,781
 May152,46012,345140,11512,535 110,2428,897101,3459,422 262,70221,242241,46021,957
 June152,66514,591138,07414,387 116,06115,261100,8009,441 268,72629,852238,87423,828
 July151,51310,155141,35811,309 122,87214,372108,5007,559 274,38524,527249,85818,868
 August148,26510,684137,58113,931 115,9919,005106,98615,887 264,25619,689244,56729,818
 September140,1209,487130,63317,637 104,1997,52496,67519,311 244,31917,011227,30836,948
 October135,9689,632126,33613,781 100,5247,33093,19411,008 236,49216,962219,53024,789
 November133,95911,687122,27213,695 99,2508,79990,45110,074 233,20920,486212,72323,769
 December135,3298,177127,1526,807 100,9397,11693,8235,427 236,26815,293220,97512,234
Table 4 Persons on the Live Register classified by region
NUTS2 and NUTS3 Regions¹December 2016November 2017December 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
      Border, Midland and Western50,42041,70742,238+531-8,1824,63937,599
      Border22,81918,76418,990+226-3,8292,19416,796
      Midland12,83910,32110,440+119-2,3991,2159,225
      West14,76212,62212,808+186-1,9541,23011,578
 
      Southern and Eastern110,16892,25293,091+839-17,0779,87283,219
      Dublin39,91234,25634,146-110-5,7663,54530,601
      Mid-East14,51712,02612,142+116-2,3751,34510,797
      Mid-West13,59011,12211,353+231-2,2371,31810,035
      South-East21,50817,91618,192+276-3,3162,09616,096
      South-West20,64116,93217,258+326-3,3831,56815,690
      Total160,588133,959135,329+1,370-25,25914,511120,818
 
Females
      Border, Midland and Western37,76932,64133,234+593-4,5353,59529,639
      Border16,78314,46914,725+256-2,0581,71813,007
      Midland9,8568,3868,522+136-1,3341,0147,508
      West11,1309,7869,987+201-1,1438639,124
 
      Southern and Eastern78,14566,60967,705+1,096-10,4406,56961,136
      Dublin26,17222,79222,709-83-3,4632,07920,630
      Mid-East11,4729,87710,021+144-1,4519169,105
      Mid-West9,7488,1118,290+179-1,4589467,344
      South-East15,69713,13113,508+377-2,1891,54311,965
      South-West15,05612,69813,177+479-1,8791,08512,092
      Total115,91499,250100,939+1,689-14,97510,16490,775
 
All Persons
      Border, Midland and Western88,18974,34875,472+1,124-12,7178,23467,238
      Border39,60233,23333,715+482-5,8873,91229,803
      Midland22,69518,70718,962+255-3,7332,22916,733
      West25,89222,40822,795+387-3,0972,09320,702
 
      Southern and Eastern188,313158,861160,796+1,935-27,51716,441144,355
      Dublin66,08457,04856,855-193-9,2295,62451,231
      Mid-East25,98921,90322,163+260-3,8262,26119,902
      Mid-West23,33819,23319,643+410-3,6952,26417,379
      South-East37,20531,04731,700+653-5,5053,63928,061
      South-West35,69729,63030,435+805-5,2622,65327,782
      Total276,502233,209236,268+3,059-40,23424,675211,593
¹ The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes
Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
Broad occupational groupDecember 2016November 2017December 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
Managers and administrators7,4376,3876,469+82-9681516,318
Professional7,4786,1856,271+86-1,2072945,977
Associate professional and technical 4,7164,1874,227+40-4893473,880
Clerical and secretarial7,6116,3236,645+322-9665436,102
Craft and related 43,86235,54335,876+333-7,9862,39633,480
Personal and protective service11,82210,18610,314+128-1,5089719,343
Sales10,4858,6448,535-109-1,9501,6736,862
Plant and machine operatives32,22726,47326,896+423-5,3312,76324,133
Other occupation24,85121,38821,559+171-3,2922,77218,787
No occupation¹10,0998,6438,537-106-1,5622,6015,936
Total 160,588133,959135,329+1,370-25,25914,511120,818
 
Females
Managers and administrators5,5774,9695,024+55-553834,941
Professional9,1027,7157,990+275-1,1123057,685
Associate professional and technical 3,8273,3813,440+59-3872053,235
Clerical and secretarial21,58217,88619,145+1,259-2,43766918,476
Craft and related 6,3675,7225,746+24-6216315,115
Personal and protective service24,71420,92121,297+376-3,4172,18919,108
Sales17,94215,33415,096-238-2,8461,97713,119
Plant and machine operatives11,6549,8859,917+32-1,7371,1188,799
Other occupation8,3347,5937,543-50-7911,3576,186
No occupation¹6,8155,8445,741-103-1,0741,6304,111
Total115,91499,250100,939+1,689-14,97510,16490,775
 
All Persons
Managers and administrators13,01411,35611,493+137-1,52123411,259
Professional16,58013,90014,261+361-2,31959913,662
Associate professional and technical 8,5437,5687,667+99-8765527,115
Clerical and secretarial29,19324,20925,790+1,581-3,4031,21224,578
Craft and related 50,22941,26541,622+357-8,6073,02738,595
Personal and protective service36,53631,10731,611+504-4,9253,16028,451
Sales28,42723,97823,631-347-4,7963,65019,981
Plant and machine operatives43,88136,35836,813+455-7,0683,88132,932
Other occupation33,18528,98129,102+121-4,0834,12924,973
No occupation¹16,91414,48714,278-209-2,6364,23110,047
Total 276,502233,209236,268+3,059-40,23424,675211,593
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
DurationDecember 2016November 2017December 2017Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Males
   Less than one year86,69074,32276,259+1,937-10,43110,48565,774
   One year or more73,89859,63759,070-567-14,8284,02655,044
   Total160,588133,959135,329+1,370-25,25914,511120,818
 
Females
   Less than one year69,96159,98262,091+2,109-7,8707,60954,482
   One year or more45,95339,26838,848-420-7,1052,55536,293
   Total115,91499,250100,939+1,689-14,97510,16490,775
 
All Persons
   Less than one year156,651134,304138,350+4,046-18,30118,094120,256
   One year or more119,85198,90597,918-987-21,9336,58191,337
   Total276,502233,209236,268+3,059-40,23424,675211,593
Table 7 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register
  MalesMonthly change FemalesMonthly change All PersonsMonthly change
2015December34,726+16 30,917-03 65,643+13
 
2016January34,447-279 30,767-150 65,214-429
 February34,810+363 31,119+352 65,929+715
 March34,402-408 31,025-94 65,427-502
 April33,809-593 30,527-498 64,336-1,091
 May33,549-260 30,269-258 63,818-518
 June33,490-59 30,222-47 63,712-106
 July32,949-541 29,763-459 62,712-1,000
 August32,159-790 29,187-576 61,346-1,366
 September31,263-896 28,322-865 59,585-1,761
 October31,100-163 28,288-34 59,388-197
 November31,108+08 28,535+247 59,643+255
 December31,156+48 28,752+217 59,908+265
 
2017January30,890-266 28,590-162 59,480-428
 February31,061+171 28,835+245 59,896+416
 March30,641-420 28,619-216 59,260-636
 April29,949-692 28,147-472 58,096-1,164
 May29,417-532 27,549-598 56,966-1,130
 June29,092-325 27,245-304 56,337-629
 July28,426-666 26,821-424 55,247-1,090
 August27,552-874 26,091-730 53,643-1,604
 September26,671-881 25,321-770 51,992-1,651
 October26,225-446 25,065-256 51,290-702
 November26,190-35 25,154+89 51,344+54
 December26,120-70 25,039-115 51,159-185
Table 8 Persons on the Live Register classified by nationality grouping
  Nationality grouping
  Non-Irish nationals     
  United KingdomEU15 excl. IRL & UKEU15 to EU28 StatesOther  Non-Irish nationalsIrish nationalsAll Persons
2015December12,0603,36430,8478,119 54,390266,983321,373
 
2016January12,0793,42831,3478,005 54,859266,654321,513
 February12,0153,38531,5518,137 55,088264,361319,449
 March11,8673,25530,9807,983 54,085261,278315,363
 April11,5273,21730,0357,909 52,688252,852305,540
 May11,5563,21329,4708,259 52,498254,324306,822
 June11,8223,31929,3158,684 53,140262,514315,654
 July11,8553,31228,8378,706 52,710266,285318,995
 August11,7163,32928,2198,633 51,897264,121316,018
 September10,8163,07226,6477,769 48,304237,799286,103
 October10,5353,03726,1617,289 47,022229,787276,809
 November10,4873,14626,1637,150 46,946226,214273,160
 December10,6083,21326,8797,158 47,858228,644276,502
 
2017January10,6143,23427,5187,186 48,552228,340276,892
 February10,5243,21927,3697,218 48,330226,763275,093
 March10,2293,06526,4877,197 46,978220,224267,202
 April10,0542,92325,7937,140 45,910217,507263,417
 May10,0552,88925,1847,447 45,575217,127262,702
 June10,2592,94124,9217,899 46,020222,706268,726
 July10,3342,99224,7427,971 46,039228,346274,385
 August10,0492,95023,8587,822 44,679219,577264,256
 September9,3332,75922,6167,222 41,930202,389244,319
 October9,1002,73022,2626,850 40,942195,550236,492
 November9,0002,85822,3276,685 40,870192,339233,209
 December9,1182,85622,6796,671 41,324194,944236,268
Table 9 Live Register Compositional Analysis
 December 2014 December 2015 December 2016 December 2017
 Number% of total Number% of total Number% of total Number% of total
Sex
Males216,20860.8 191,11059.5 160,58858.1 135,32957.3
Females139,65239.2 130,26340.5 115,91441.9 100,93942.7
Total355,860100.0 321,373100.0 276,502100.0 236,268100.0
 
Age
Under 25 years47,89013.5 38,68812.0 30,28511.0 24,67510.4
25 years and over307,97086.5 282,68588.0 246,21789.0 211,59389.6
Total355,860100.0 321,373100.0 276,502100.0 236,268100.0
 
Scheme
JB Claims49,52013.9 44,56313.9 40,42114.6 37,83316.0
JA Applications271,54276.3 244,08175.9 205,97374.5 170,72672.3
Other Registrants34,7989.8 32,72910.2 30,10810.9 27,70911.7
Total355,860100.0 321,373100.0 276,502100.0 236,268100.0
 
Duration of Continuous Registration
Less than one year191,59853.8 175,28654.5 156,65156.7 138,35058.6
One year or more164,26246.2 146,08745.5 119,85143.3 97,91841.4
Total355,860100.0 321,373100.0 276,502100.0 236,268100.0
 
Nationality Grouping
Irish Nationals295,47183.0 266,98383.1 228,64482.7 194,94482.5
Non-Irish Nationals60,38917.0 54,39016.9 47,85817.3 41,32417.5
Total355,860100.0 321,373100.0 276,502100.0 236,268100.0
 
NUTS2 Regions¹
Border, Midland and Western112,27831.6 101,43531.6 88,18931.9 75,47231.9
Southern and Eastern243,58268.4 219,93868.4 188,31368.1 160,79668.1
Total355,860100.0 321,373100.0 276,502100.0 236,268100.0
 
Last Held Occupation
Managers and administrators15,4174.3 14,5164.5 13,0144.7 11,4934.9
Professional20,5045.8 18,2865.7 16,5806.0 14,2616.0
Associate professional and technical10,0972.8 9,2372.9 8,5433.1 7,6673.2
Clerical and secretarial34,6809.7 32,07010.0 29,19310.6 25,79010.9
Craft and related 70,86619.9 61,61519.2 50,22918.2 41,62217.6
Personal and protective service45,71912.8 41,94213.1 36,53613.2 31,61113.4
Sales37,46910.5 33,51410.4 28,42710.3 23,63110.0
Plant and machine operatives58,29016.4 51,91416.2 43,88115.9 36,81315.6
Other occupation42,64112.0 38,98912.1 33,18512.0 29,10212.3
No Occupation²20,1775.7 19,2906.0 16,9146.1 14,2786.0
Total355,860100.0 321,373100.0 276,502100.0 236,268100.0
 
Casual Status
No casual and part-time work283,52279.7 255,73079.6 216,59478.3 185,10978.3
Casual and part-time work72,33820.3 65,64320.4 59,90821.7 51,15921.7
Total355,860100.0 321,373100.0 276,502100.0 236,268100.0
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
Annex Table A1 - Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes
 November 2016October 2017November 2017
Back to Work Schemes
Back to Work allowance scheme - Employee strand1000
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand11,04210,0179,841
Short-term Enterprise Allowance2 394423398
Total Back to Work payments 11,43610,44010,239
 
Other Activation Programmes
DSP Part-time Job Incentive482422421
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) 7,2996,3596,522
JobBridge (2011)33,39000
Gateway (2013)48076767
Total Other Activation Programmes11,9786,8487,010
     
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors)522,20521,76321,722
 
FAS (Solas) Full Time Training for Unemployed People67,0756,0856,085
     
Back to Education Courses
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)7N/AN/AN/A
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)814,13510,84013,501
Total Back to Education Courses 19,13515,84018,501
     
Total Activation Programmes71,82960,97663,557
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 This scheme was closed to new applications from 21 October 2016.
4 Gateway Scheme included from December 2013.
5 October 2017 revised to 21,763.
6 Figure as October 2017 as data for November 2017 are unavailable at the time of publication.   
7 VTOS figures are estimated at 5,000 per month.
8 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.

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:

December 2017 – 3rd December - 30th December 2017

December 2016 – 27th November - 31st December 2016

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 series, 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 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 referenced 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. 

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 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 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 on a bi-annual basis, 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 Department of Social Protection. 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 Department of Social Protection 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 on the front page of the release or e-mail labour@cso.ie

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