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International comparison:
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See also:
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For more information on this release:
E-mail: labour@cso.ie Karen Desmond (+353) 21 453 5534 Sabrina Bowen (+353) 21 453 5151 Brian Cahill (+353) 21 453 5173
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-535X
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Live Register

May 2015

 Live Register TotalSeasonally Adjusted
May 2014388,764390,600
April 2015343,551349,700
May 2015345,633347,100
   
Change in month-- 2,600
Change in year- 43,131-

Seasonally adjusted Live Register total decreases by 2,600 in May

Live Register Seasonally Adjusted
go to full release

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 2,600 (-0.7%) in May 2015, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 347,100. See table 2(a). 

In unadjusted terms there were 345,633 people signing on the Live Register in May 2015.  This represents an annual decrease of 43,131 (-11.1%). See table 1(a).

Other features include:

  • On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register showed a monthly decrease of 2,500 (-1.2%) males in May 2015, while females decreased by 200 (-0.1%) over the same period. See table 2(a).
  • The number of male claimants decreased by 31,756 (-13.2%) to 208,658 in the year to May 2015, while female claimants decreased by 11,375 (-7.7%) to 136,975.  This compares with a decrease of 26,507 (-9.9%) to 240,414 for males while female claimants decreased by 6,466 (-4.2%) to 148,350 in the year to May 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The Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) has been discontinued and has been replaced by the Monthly Unemployment release which is available here.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
May 2013229740191997
Jun 2013237849197508
Jul 2013244405197571
Aug 2013238472196808
Sept 2013219789188881
Oct 2013214111182401
Nov 2013211749179758
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

 

Live Register duration of continuous registration

The number of long term claimants on the Live Register in May 2015 was 161,884.  The number of male long term claimants decreased by 19,276 (-15.5%) in the year to May 2015, while females decreased by 2,210 (-3.7%), giving an overall annual decrease of 21,486 (-11.7%) in the number of long term claimants. See table 6 and graph above.

In May 2015, 53.2% (183,749) of all claimants on the Live Register were short term claimants.  The comparable figure for May 2014 was 52.8% (205,394).  The annual fall of 21,645 (-10.5%) in the number of short term claimants consisted of a decrease of 12,480 (-10.7%) in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 9,165 (-10.3%) in female short term claimants.See table 6.

 

Live Register casual and part-time workers

There were 69,259 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in May 2015, which represents 20.0% of the total Live Register.  This compares with 19.7% one year earlier when there were 76,762 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register.  In the year to May 2015 the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 7,503 (-9.8%), with the number of males decreasing by 4,411 (-10.7%) and the number of females decreasing by 3,092 (-8.7%). See table 7.

 

 

Under 25 years25 years and over
May 201367286354451
May 201458516330248
May 201547086298547

 

Live Register age groups

In the year to May 2015 the number of persons aged 25 and over on the Live Register decreased by 31,701 (-9.6%), and the number of persons aged under 25 decreased by 11,430 (-19.5%).  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 13.6% for May 2015, down from 15.1% in May 2014 and 16.0% in May 2013. See tables 1(b) and 1(c) and graph above.

 

Live Register new registrants

There were 29,608 new registrants on the Live Register in May 2015, consisting of 10,482 Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) claims, 17,792 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) claims and 1,334 ‘Other Registrants’.  Males accounted for 54.7% (16,202) and females 45.3% (13,406) of all new registrants.  On average 3,240 male and 2,681 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 (19.6%) remained the largest occupational group1 on the Live Register in May, despite the fact that the number in the group fell over the year by 12,251 (-15.3%) to 67,822.  The second largest annual percentage decrease was in the Associate professional and technical (-14.0%). The two smallest occupational groups in May were the Associate professional and technical and the Managers and administrators groups which accounted for 2.8% and 4.4% 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 GroupMay 2013May 2014May 2015
1173331642515294
2238652189319281
312112112629688
4398143660732930
5939408007367822
6500094779943297
7465294390038356
8696426429356523
9481844523742018
10203092127520424
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 34,547 (-11.5%) brought the total number of JA claimants to 265,719 in May 2015, while JB claimants decreased to 45,534 (-13.7%) over the same period.  As a result JA claimants account for 76.9% of all persons on the Live Register in May 2015 compared with 77.2% 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-West region (-12.2%) followed by the Dublin region (-12.0%) and South-West at (-11.9%). See table 4.
  • In May, Irish nationals accounted for 83.1% (287,234) of the number of persons on the Live Register. Of the 58,399 non-Irish nationals, the largest constituent group on the Live Register was nationals from the EU15 to EU28 States (33,138), followed by the UK (13,041). See table 8.


Annex - Activation Programmes

Data up to the end of April 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 (including Lone Parents) is provided in the Annex – Live Register Activation Programmes table.

There were 88,398 people availing of these programmes in April 2015, which is an increase of 2,809 persons (+3.3%) from the previous year, when there were 85,589 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
CategoryMay 2014April 2015May 2015Monthly changeAnnual change
     
Males  
    JB Claims26,20123,56322,719-844-3,482
    JA Applications201,419172,662173,867+1,205-27,552
    Other Registrants12,79412,07912,072-7-722
    Total240,414208,304208,658+354-31,756
     
Females     
    JB Claims26,58423,35622,815-541-3,769
    JA Applications98,84789,64991,852+2,203-6,995
    Other Registrants22,91922,24222,308+66-611
    Total148,350135,247136,975+1,728-11,375
     
All Persons     
    JB Claims52,78546,91945,534-1,385-7,251
    JA Applications300,266262,311265,719+3,408-34,547
    Other Registrants35,71334,32134,380+59-1,333
    Total388,764343,551345,633+2,082-43,131
      
Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register
CategoryMay 2014April 2015May 2015Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims1,5091,4781,395-83-114
    JA Applications33,32525,73626,253+517-7,072
    Other Registrants110117112-5+2
    Total34,94427,33127,760+429-7,184
      
Females     
    JB Claims1,5941,3471,303-44-291
    JA Applications21,81217,02817,882+854-3,930
    Other Registrants166151141-10-25
    Total23,57218,52619,326+800-4,246
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims3,1032,8252,698-127-405
    JA Applications55,13742,76444,135+1,371-11,002
    Other Registrants276268253-15-23
    Total58,51645,85747,086+1,229-11,430
      
Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register
CategoryMay 2014April 2015May 2015Monthly changeAnnual change
      
Males     
    JB Claims24,69222,08521,324-761-3,368
    JA Applications168,094146,926147,614+688-20,480
    Other Registrants12,68411,96211,960-2-724
    Total205,470180,973180,898-75-24,572
      
Females     
    JB Claims24,99022,00921,512-497-3,478
    JA Applications77,03572,62173,970+1,349-3,065
    Other Registrants22,75322,09122,167+76-586
    Total124,778116,721117,649+928-7,129
      
All Persons     
    JB Claims49,68244,09442,836-1,258-6,846
    JA Applications245,129219,547221,584+2,037-23,545
    Other Registrants35,43734,05334,127+74-1,310
    Total330,248297,694298,547+853-31,701
      
Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted
  Unadjusted Series Seasonally Adjusted Series1
 MonthMalesFemalesAll Persons MalesFemalesAll Persons
         
2013May266,900154,800421,700 266,300158,000424,300
 June270,900164,400435,400 263,800157,900421,700
 July270,300171,700442,000 261,600157,100418,700
 August266,400168,800435,300 258,700156,400415,000
 September254,000154,600408,700 257,400156,100413,500
 October246,800149,800396,500 254,600155,100409,800
 November243,500148,000391,500 252,200154,700406,900
 December245,700149,700395,400 249,900153,800403,700
      
2014January248,700150,900399,600 247,700153,500401,300
 February247,400150,700398,100 245,900153,000398,900
 March243,200148,000391,200 244,000152,800396,800
 April239,500149,000388,600 240,900152,000392,900
 May240,400148,400388,800 239,400151,100390,600
 June242,700156,100398,800 236,200149,700386,000
 July241,300163,200404,500 233,500149,000382,500
 August238,100160,300398,300 231,100148,200379,300
 September224,800145,200370,100 227,800146,800374,600
 October217,800140,900358,600 225,000146,100371,100
 November214,700137,900352,600 222,500144,500367,000
 December216,300139,800356,100 220,000143,700363,700
      
2015January218,700140,000358,700 217,700142,500360,100
 February215,900139,200355,100 214,600141,400356,000
 March212,000136,600348,700 211,900139,600351,400
 April208,300135,200343,600 210,100139,700349,700
 May208,700137,000345,600 207,600139,500347,100
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
         
2013May40,40026,90067,300 40,50027,50068,000
 June42,10029,20071,300 39,80027,00066,900
 July42,40030,20072,500 39,40026,70066,100
 August41,80030,10071,900 38,80026,50065,300
 September38,90027,30066,200 38,60026,50065,100
 October37,00025,60062,600 38,30026,30064,600
 November35,50024,20059,700 37,70026,00063,700
 December35,30023,80059,100 37,20025,80062,900
      
2014January36,10024,40060,500 36,70025,40062,100
 February36,00024,20060,200 36,30025,10061,400
 March35,30023,60058,900 35,90025,10061,000
 April34,20023,10057,200 35,30024,50059,800
 May34,90023,60058,500 34,90024,00058,900
 June36,00025,40061,400 34,00023,50057,600
 July35,90026,20062,100 33,40023,20056,500
 August35,40026,10061,500 32,80022,90055,700
 September32,10023,00055,100 32,00022,30054,300
 October30,10021,10051,200 31,20021,70053,000
 November29,00019,90048,900 30,80021,40052,200
 December28,60019,30047,900 30,20021,00051,100
        
2015January29,30020,00049,300 29,80020,80050,500
 February28,80019,70048,500 29,10020,40049,500
 March28,00019,00047,100 28,50020,00048,600
 April27,30018,50045,900 28,20019,80048,000
 May27,80019,30047,100 27,70019,60047,300
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
         
2013May226,600127,900354,500 225,800130,400356,200
 June228,800135,200364,000 224,000130,800354,800
 July227,900141,500369,400 222,200130,400352,700
 August224,600138,700363,300 219,900129,900349,800
 September215,200127,300342,500 218,800129,600348,400
 October209,800124,100333,900 216,400128,800345,200
 November208,000123,700331,800 214,500128,600343,200
 December210,400125,900336,300 212,700128,100340,800
      
2014January212,600126,500339,100 211,000128,100339,100
 February211,400126,500337,800 209,600127,900337,500
 March207,900124,400332,400 208,000127,800335,800
 April205,400125,900331,300 205,600127,500333,200
 May205,500124,800330,200 204,500127,100331,600
 June206,700130,700337,400 202,200126,200328,400
 July205,400137,000342,400 200,200125,800326,000
 August202,600134,200336,800 198,300125,300323,600
 September192,700122,200314,900 195,900124,500320,400
 October187,700119,800307,400 193,700124,300318,100
 November185,700118,000303,800 191,700123,100314,900
 December187,800120,400308,200 189,900122,700312,600
      
2015January189,300120,000309,400 187,900121,700309,600
 February187,100119,500306,600 185,500121,000306,500
 March184,000117,600301,600 183,300119,500302,900
 April181,000116,700297,700 181,900119,900301,800
 May180,900117,600298,500 180,000119,800299,800
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           
2014May526,2015,8117,361-310 26,5847,203     9,740-507
 June425,7804,6115,032-105 28,9447,078     4,718+590
 July425,6245,0085,164-39 33,7899,967     5,122+1,211
 August524,2015,0316,454-285 31,0935,978     8,674-539
 September422,1264,2476,322-519 24,1504,714     11,657-1,736
 October522,1296,3046,301+1 23,9816,242     6,411-34
 November422,5655,8445,408+109 23,5336,522     6,970-112
 December424,1094,8453,301+386 25,5115,300     3,322+495
            
2015January526,0028,7826,889+379 25,488     8,8408,863-5
 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
            
JA Applications           
2014May5201,41911,7079,262+489 98,8478,0836,024+412
 June4204,15710,3567,618+685 103,9199,2784,206+1,268
 July4203,0439,49610,610-279 105,6088,0616,372+422
 August5201,26311,33913,119-356 105,5908,0828,100-4
 September4190,33810,45621,381-2,731 98,2727,37614,694-1,830
 October5183,34912,58519,574-1,398 94,1848,18112,269-818
 November4179,94010,17613,585-852 91,8726,3468,658-578
 December4179,9987,8257,767+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
            
Other Registrants           
2014May512,794523545-4 22,9191,0721,262-38
 June412,760449483-9 23,2531,103769+84
 July412,650549659-28 23,8011,5641,016+137
 August512,598566618-10 23,5801,0641,285-44
 September412,355500743-61 22,8099241,695-193
 October512,294667728-12 22,6931,2601,376-23
 November412,221577650-18 22,5161,0601,237-44
 December412,232442431+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
            
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 Regions1May 2014April 2015May 2015Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
        
Males       
      Border, Midland and Western74,23064,27264,304+32-9,9268,77155,533
      Border33,77429,31429,308-6-4,4664,11825,190
      Midland19,11416,60016,675+75-2,4392,39014,285
      West21,34218,35818,321-37-3,0212,26316,058
        
      Southern and Eastern166,184144,032144,354+322-21,83018,989125,365
      Dublin60,55051,99052,150+160-8,4006,97045,180
      Mid-East22,85719,83820,029+191-2,8282,73917,290
      Mid-West19,56516,83716,820-17-2,7452,27014,550
      South-East31,81927,93928,243+304-3,5763,90224,341
      South-West31,39327,42827,112-316-4,2813,10824,004
      Total240,414208,304208,658+354-31,75627,760180,898
        
Females       
      Border, Midland and Western47,56343,66244,297+635-3,2666,49337,804
      Border21,23819,57319,878+305-1,3602,97516,903
      Midland12,35411,39411,583+189-7711,8979,686
      West13,97112,69512,836+141-1,1351,62111,215
        
      Southern and Eastern100,78791,58592,678+1,093-8,10912,83379,845
      Dublin34,39030,93831,350+412-3,0404,30927,041
      Mid-East15,12313,89914,161+262-9621,93512,226
      Mid-West12,53811,15311,358+205-1,1801,6609,698
      South-East19,41717,76318,220+457-1,1972,82515,395
      South-West19,31917,83217,589-243-1,7302,10415,485
      Total148,350135,247136,975+1,728-11,37519,326117,649
        
All Persons       
      Border, Midland and Western121,793107,934108,601+667-13,19215,26493,337
      Border55,01248,88749,186+299-5,8267,09342,093
      Midland31,46827,99428,258+264-3,2104,28723,971
      West35,31331,05331,157+104-4,1563,88427,273
        
      Southern and Eastern266,971235,617237,032+1,415-29,93931,822205,210
      Dublin94,94082,92883,500+572-11,44011,27972,221
      Mid-East37,98033,73734,190+453-3,7904,67429,516
      Mid-West32,10327,99028,178+188-3,9253,93024,248
      South-East51,23645,70246,463+761-4,7736,72739,736
      South-West50,71245,26044,701-559-6,0115,21239,489
      Total388,764343,551345,633+2,082-43,13147,086298,547
1 The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes.
Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation
 May 2014April 2015May 2015Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Broad occupational group
        
Males       
Managers and administrators9,4118,7598,774+15-6372708,504
Professional10,1658,6198,775+156-1,3905718,204
Associate professional and technical 6,5165,3345,505+171-1,0116604,845
Clerical and secretarial10,2988,8869,020+134-1,2789758,045
Craft and related 73,01361,65061,086-564-11,9274,17756,909
Personal and protective service16,65814,71614,541-175-2,1171,60612,935
Sales17,26414,47714,697+220-2,5673,85710,840
Plant and machine operatives48,82042,27342,072-201-6,7485,04637,026
Other occupation35,14731,62831,829+201-3,3185,54826,281
No occupation113,12211,96212,359+397-7635,0507,309
Total 240,414208,304208,658+354-31,75627,760180,898
        
Females       
Managers and administrators7,0146,4896,520+31-4941136,407
Professional11,72810,26510,506+241-1,2225929,914
Associate professional and technical 4,7464,1334,183+50-5633233,860
Clerical and secretarial26,30923,56923,910+341-2,3991,18722,723
Craft and related 7,0606,7186,736+18-3248045,932
Personal and protective service31,14128,82828,756-72-2,3854,07624,680
Sales26,63623,43023,659+229-2,9774,46819,191
Plant and machine operatives15,47314,25614,451+195-1,0222,00212,449
Other occupation10,0909,80210,189+387+992,6007,589
No occupation18,1537,7578,065+308-883,1614,904
Total148,350135,247136,975+1,728-11,37519,326117,649
        
All Persons       
Managers and administrators16,42515,24815,294+46-1,13138314,911
Professional21,89318,88419,281+397-2,6121,16318,118
Associate professional and technical 11,2629,4679,688+221-1,5749838,705
Clerical and secretarial36,60732,45532,930+475-3,6772,16230,768
Craft and related 80,07368,36867,822-546-12,2514,98162,841
Personal and protective service47,79943,54443,297-247-4,5025,68237,615
Sales43,90037,90738,356+449-5,5448,32530,031
Plant and machine operatives64,29356,52956,523-6-7,7707,04849,475
Other occupation45,23741,43042,018+588-3,2198,14833,870
No occupation121,27519,71920,424+705-8518,21112,213
Total 388,764343,551345,633+2,082-43,13147,086298,547
        
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
 May 2014April 2015May 2015Monthly changeAnnual changeUnder 25 years25 years & over
Duration
        
Males
   Less than one year116,193105,055103,713-1,342-12,48017,89385,820
   One year or more124,221103,249104,945+1,696-19,2769,86795,078
   Total240,414208,304208,658+354-31,75627,760180,898
       
Females       
   Less than one year89,20180,00880,036+28-9,16513,35766,679
   One year or more59,14955,23956,939+1,700-2,2105,96950,970
   Total148,350135,247136,975+1,728-11,37519,326117,649
       
All Persons       
   Less than one year205,394185,063183,749-1,314-21,64531,250152,499
   One year or more183,370158,488161,884+3,396-21,48615,836146,048
   Total388,764343,551345,633+2,082-43,13147,086298,547
        
Table 7 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register
   MalesMonthly change FemalesMonthly change All PersonsMonthly change
         
2013May 48,095-432 39,848-534 87,943-966
 June 48,178+83 40,144+296 88,322+379
 July 47,592+586 39,827-317 87,419-903
 August 46,259-1,333 38,846-981 85,105-2,314
 September 44,676-1,583 37,619-1,227 82,295-2,810
 October 43,945-731 37,374-245 81,319-976
 November 43,911-34 37,578+204 81,489+170
 December 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
Table 8 Persons on the Live Register classified by nationality grouping 
  Nationality grouping 
  Non-Irish nationals     
   EU15 excl. IRL & UKEU15 to EU281 States     
United Kingdom  Non-Irish nationalsIrish nationalsAll Persons
  Other  
          
2013May16,1873,66340,85813,124 73,832347,905421,737
 June16,7063,75040,63413,520 74,610360,747435,357
 July16,8733,74840,13613,312 74,069367,907441,976
 August16,5153,67939,17513,083 72,452362,828435,280
 September15,5433,53637,84212,320 69,241339,429408,670
 October15,1453,49037,27511,627 67,537328,975396,512
 November15,0993,66037,74811,386 67,893323,614391,507
 December15,2013,71138,22111,344 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
1With the addition of Croatia from July 2013, EU15- EU28
Table 9 Live Register Compositional Analysis
 May 2012May 2013May 2014May 2015
  % of total % of total % of total % of total
 NumberNumberNumberNumber
Sex        
Males278,76364.4266,92163.3240,41461.8208,65860.4
Females154,14435.6154,81636.7148,35038.2136,97539.6
Total432,907100.0421,737100.0388,764100.0345,633100.0
        
Age        
Under 25 years72,62316.867,28616.058,51615.147,08613.6
25 years and over360,28483.2354,45184.0330,24884.9298,54786.4
Total432,907100.0421,737100.0388,764100.0345,633100.0
        
Scheme        
JB Claims93,98921.777,01618.352,78513.645,53413.2
JA Applications305,99170.7310,78473.7300,26677.2265,71976.9
Other Registrants32,9277.633,9378.035,7139.234,3809.9
Total432,907100.0421,737100.0388,764100.0345,633100.0
         
Duration of Continuous Registration        
Less than one year244,17856.4229,74054.5205,39452.8183,74953.2
One year or more188,72943.6191,99745.5183,37047.2161,88446.8
Total432,907100.0421,737100.0388,764100.0345,633100.0
         
Nationality Grouping        
Irish Nationals356,12482.3347,90582.5321,95482.8287,23483.1
Non-Irish Nationals76,78317.773,83217.566,81017.258,39916.9
Total432,907100.0421,737100.0388,764100.0345,633100.0
         
NUTS2 Regions1        
Border, Midland and Western132,60530.6131,59331.2121,79331.3108,60131.4
Southern and Eastern300,30269.4290,14468.8266,97168.7237,03268.6
Total432,907100.0421,737100.0388,764100.0345,633100.0
         
Last Held Occupation        
Managers and administrators16,8073.917,3334.116,4254.215,2944.4
Professional23,4685.423,8655.721,8935.619,2815.6
Associate professional and technical12,3162.812,1122.911,2622.99,6882.8
Clerical and secretarial41,0419.539,8149.436,6079.432,9309.5
Craft and related 103,53923.993,94022.380,07320.667,82219.6
Personal and protective service50,53111.750,00911.947,79912.343,29712.5
Sales47,29810.946,52911.043,90011.338,35611.1
Plant and machine operatives70,23716.269,64216.564,29316.556,52316.4
Other occupation49,12811.348,18411.445,23711.642,01812.2
No occupation218,5424.320,3094.821,2755.520,4245.9
Total432,907100.0421,737100.0388,764100.0345,633100.0
         
Casual Status        
No casual and part-time work344,84379.7333,79479.1312,00280.3276,37480.0
Casual and part-time work88,06420.387,94320.976,76219.769,25920.0
Total432,907100.0421,737100.0388,764100.0345,633100.0
         
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.
Live Register Activation Programmes    
 April 2014March 2015April 2015
Back to Work Schemes    
Back to Work allowance scheme - Employee strand1710
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand10,40611,37211,490
Short-term Enterprise Allowance2 518465461
Total Back to Work payments 10,93111,83811,951
    
Other Activation Programmes    
DSP Part-time Job Incentive322397401
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) 7,4197,8417,979
JobBridge (2011)6,7506,0155,895
Gateway (2013)31481,9902,082
Total Other Activation Programmes14,63916,24316,357
        
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors) 22,96124,47822,999
    
FAS Full Time Training for Unemployed People4 8,7238,0027,997
        
Back to Education Courses    
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)5N/AN/AN/A
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)623,33524,14324,094
Total Back to Education Courses 28,33529,14329,094
        
Total Activation Programmes85,58989,70488,398
    
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: 

May 2015 – 25th April 2015 to 29th May 2015
May 2014 – 27th April 2014 to 30th May 2014

 

Unemployment statistics

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 and 1,300 people in July 2014, 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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