This release was compiled during the COVID-19 pandemic. For further information see the Information Note on Implications of COVID-19 on the Live Register and the Monthly Unemployment Estimates and the Press Statement Live Register March 2021. Please also see the Technical Note - Live Register August 2020.
Live Register Total | Seasonally Adjusted | Pandemic Unemployment Payment | |
March 2020 | 205,209 | 209,600 | 393,973 |
February 2021 | 186,702 | 189,000 | 468,891 |
March 2021 | 183,096 | 186,300 | 443,247 |
Change in month | -2,700 | - 25,644 | |
Change in year | -22,113 | +49,274 |
A range of measures were introduced by the Government to provide income support for those whose employment has been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. The available schemes are being administered by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) and the Revenue Commissioners. See our Infographic.
At the end of March 2021, 443,247 of those whose income from employment has been affected due to COVID-19 were being facilitated through the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) which is administered by the DSP. The current release is the first time the CSO has been able to analyse a full year of the number of people in receipt on the PUP. There are currently 49,274 more persons in receipt of the PUP than at the end of March 2020. Users should consider the impact of Government restrictions when comparing the numbers of people in receipt of the PUP at different points in time.
The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) was replaced by the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) on 01 September 2020. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has not yet disseminated EWSS data but will continue to work with the Revenue Commissioners to make this available to users as soon as possible. See Annex Table A2.
The CSO has worked to identify the detail available from the different sources and how the different schemes should be classified for statistical purposes. There is some overlap between those who meet the criteria to be included on the Live Register and those who are benefitting from the COVID-19 income support schemes. These overlaps occur due to the different frequency of the payments, and the fact that some persons who are included on the Live Register may not be receiving a payment and so might be benefitting from either the PUP or the TWSS. Once EWSS data is available we will include it in Table A2 in similar manner.
As users will be aware, the Live Register is a series which is available back to 1967 on the CSO’s PxStat tabular data service. The Live Register series is of immense historical value and the CSO is keen to protect the continuity of the series, while also trying to make as much information as possible available to users, charting the labour market effects of COVID-19.
The CSO published an information note on 01 April 2020 for users on the implications of the COVID-19 income support measures on the Live Register and the Monthly Unemployment Estimates releases. That information note is available here: Information Note on Implications of COVID-19 on the Live Register and the Monthly Unemployment Estimates. The information note outlines why those in receipt of the COVID-19 income support payments are not included on the Live Register unless they meet the usual criteria to be included on the Live Register.
The unadjusted number of persons on the Live Register for each month since March 2020 may include a small number of applicants for the PUP who were advised to apply for Jobseekers Benefit if they have a dependant adult and at least one child, or four or more children in the case of no dependant adult.
The COVID-19 income supports were originally set up as short-term emergency income supports but they have been extended several times and there have been changes made in terms of the eligibility criteria and how they are being administered. While the PUP and the TWSS were both expected to cease in August 2020, the PUP is currently expected to continue until the end of June 2021 while the TWSS has been replaced by the EWSS from 01 September 2020.
A review of non-recipient Live Register claims is ongoing at the DSP and relates primarily to cases where a person who was in receipt of the PUP has since closed their PUP claim and reported a return to employment. This will impact the Live Register totals, as some of these non-recipient jobseeker claims were included on the Live Register, but their jobseeker claims were not automatically closed at that time. Please see the Technical Note published by the CSO alongside the Live Register release for August 2020 for more information including an analysis of Live Register components based on their recipient status. A table providing a breakdown of Live Register claimants since February 2019 by recipient and non-recipient status is also available in Annex Table A3 at the end of this Live Register release today, while the corresponding series from January 2012 onwards is also available on PxStat.
The Live Register for March 2021 has been compiled in the traditional way and the usual tables are included below. The CSO will continue to evaluate the available income support schemes and the results of the recipient and non-recipient analysis of the Live Register to determine whether any changes are required to the methodology for the Live Register to improve the usability of the series. In the meantime, caution needs to be exercised when assessing monthly changes. Any changes the CSO may make to the Live Register methodology in the future will be clearly outlined to users in the Live Register release and accompanying material.
The detailed commentary usually provided on the Live Register tables has not been included here but can be made available to users on request to labour@cso.ie.
The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment. It includes part-time workers (those who work up to three days a week), seasonal and casual workers entitled to Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) or Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA). Unemployment is measured by the Labour Force Survey. The Monthly Unemployment Rate (seasonally adjusted) is published in the Monthly Unemployment Release. |
The unadjusted Live Register total for March 2021 was 183,096 persons; this consisted of 103,283 males (56.4%) and 79,813 females (43.6%). Of those on the Live Register for March 2021, 20,302 or 11.1%, are under 25 years of age, while 162,794 or 88.9%, are 25 years of age and over. See Table 1a.
On an adjusted basis, the number of male and female claimants on the Live Register were 103,900 and 82,500 representing 55.8% and 44.3% of the seasonally adjusted Live Register total respectively. See Table 2a.
A total of 443,247 persons were in receipt of the PUP for the last week of March 2021; this consisted of 242,105 males (54.6%) and 201,142 females (45.4%). Of those claiming the PUP, 106,865 or 24.1%, are under 25 years of age, while 336,382 or 75.9%, are 25 years of age and over. See Table A2.
A total of 617,441 persons were either on the Live Register or were benefitting from the PUP in March 2021. This compares to 654,545 in the month of February 2021.
The CSO has been working with, and will continue to collaborate with, both the DSP and the Revenue Commissioners to meet user needs for availability of detailed aggregates for the recipients of both the PUP and the TWSS/ EWSS respectively. Tables providing breakdowns of the numbers benefitting from the PUP and the TWSS and the numbers of persons on the Live Register for each week since March 2020 by sex, age group, county and nationality grouping are available at the following link: PxStat LRW Tables. This link also contains tables for the corresponding numbers included on the Live Register for each week as well as a total number of persons with overlaps removed who are either on the Live Register for each week or who were benefitting from either the PUP or the TWSS up to 31 August 2020. As already mentioned, the CSO has not yet disseminated EWSS data but will continue to work with the Revenue Commissioners to make this data available to users as soon as possible. The final update to the number of persons benefitting from the TWSS is included in the PxStat tables linked above. No further TWSS updates will be provided given that the TWSS scheme is now closed. It should be noted that DSP has been paying arrears to recipients of the PUP, to account for the movement of people in and out of employment. The main arrears payment occurred on 01 December 2020. All arrears paid to date are now included in the week of the entitlement period, rather than the week of payment.
The Department of Social Protection (DSP) have supplied supplementary information on whether PUP recipients were in full-time education when asked to certify their status on the MyWelfare.ie service. While it should be noted that this information is not complete, it is estimated that at least 8.1% of all recipients of PUP since March 2020 were attending full-time education at the time of certification. For those aged 25 years and over this could be as low as 1.3% while it is at least 33.3% for those aged under 25 years. If the PUP scheme did not exist, those persons, being in full-time education, would not be eligible to receive Unemployment Assistance or Unemployment Benefit and so would not be included on the Live Register.
The Labour Market Analysis area of the CSO are compiling a mailing list of users who wish to register their interest in being kept informed of Labour Market related updates from the CSO. These email updates will include advising users of any updates to the aggregate tables available at the link above. If you wish to be included in this mailing list, please email labour@cso.ie and register your email address for inclusion on the mailing list.
Annex - Activation Programmes
Data up to the end of February 2021 on the number of persons availing of a range of programmes targeted primarily at the long-term unemployed (over 12 months) and other welfare recipients is provided in the Annex Table A1 – Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes table.
There were 39,507 persons availing of these programmes in February 2021, which is a decrease of 8,955 persons (-18.5%) from the previous year, when there were 48,462 persons in activation programmes.
Persons on activation programmes are not counted as part of the monthly Live Register.
Duration | Less than one year | One year or more |
---|---|---|
March 2019 | 116300 | 76107 |
April 2019 | 118178 | 74940 |
May 2019 | 113629 | 76238 |
June 2019 | 119916 | 77192 |
July 2019 | 129738 | 76658 |
August 2019 | 123288 | 75805 |
September 2019 | 112189 | 71594 |
October 2019 | 111313 | 69146 |
November 2019 | 109552 | 68002 |
December 2019 | 114438 | 67558 |
January 2020 | 116050 | 67705 |
February 2020 | 115745 | 66871 |
March 2020 | 138244 | 66965 |
April 2020 | 146291 | 68450 |
May 2020 | 155798 | 69864 |
June 2020 | 149204 | 71667 |
July 2020 | 169822 | 74740 |
August 2020 | 150039 | 75805 |
September 2020 | 135596 | 75896 |
October 2020 | 128442 | 74730 |
November 2020 | 118953 | 75105 |
December 2020 | 114050 | 75810 |
January 2021 | 110905 | 77638 |
February 2021 | 107483 | 79219 |
March 2021 | 101946 | 81150 |
Under 25 years | 25 years and over | |
March 2019 | 20450 | 171957 |
March 2020 | 23397 | 181812 |
March 2021 | 20302 | 162794 |
Broad Occupational Group | March 2019 | March 2020 | March 2021 |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 10112 | 10962 | 8492 |
2 | 11148 | 12845 | 10234 |
3 | 6600 | 6941 | 6603 |
4 | 20620 | 21477 | 16926 |
5 | 32966 | 33890 | 27047 |
6 | 25838 | 31587 | 22329 |
7 | 19824 | 19174 | 16147 |
8 | 29610 | 30610 | 24371 |
9 | 23690 | 24846 | 22193 |
10 | 11999 | 12877 | 28754 |
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 |
Table 1(a) Total persons on the Live Register | |||||
Category | March 2020 | February 2021 | March 2021 | Monthly change | Annual change |
Males | |||||
JB Claims | 25,549 | 18,800 | 17,794 | -1,006 | -7,755 |
JA Applications | 81,229 | 80,412 | 79,640 | -772 | -1,589 |
Other Registrants | 6,490 | 5,902 | 5,849 | -53 | -641 |
Total | 113,268 | 105,114 | 103,283 | -1,831 | -9,985 |
Females | |||||
JB Claims | 28,443 | 19,646 | 18,637 | -1,009 | -9,806 |
JA Applications | 49,067 | 48,574 | 47,943 | -631 | -1,124 |
Other Registrants | 14,431 | 13,368 | 13,233 | -135 | -1,198 |
Total | 91,941 | 81,588 | 79,813 | -1,775 | -12,128 |
All Persons | |||||
JB Claims | 53,992 | 38,446 | 36,431 | -2,015 | -17,561 |
JA Applications | 130,296 | 128,986 | 127,583 | -1,403 | -2,713 |
Other Registrants | 20,921 | 19,270 | 19,082 | -188 | -1,839 |
Total | 205,209 | 186,702 | 183,096 | -3,606 | -22,113 |
Table 1(b) Persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register | |||||
Category | March 2020 | February 2021 | March 2021 | Monthly change | Annual change |
Males | |||||
JB Claims | 1,848 | 971 | 877 | -94 | -971 |
JA Applications | 11,187 | 10,839 | 10,724 | -115 | -463 |
Other Registrants | 39 | 40 | 33 | -7 | -6 |
Total | 13,074 | 11,850 | 11,634 | -216 | -1,440 |
Females | |||||
JB Claims | 2,428 | 1,204 | 1,121 | -83 | -1,307 |
JA Applications | 7,851 | 7,677 | 7,516 | -161 | -335 |
Other Registrants | 44 | 29 | 31 | +2 | -13 |
Total | 10,323 | 8,910 | 8,668 | -242 | -1,655 |
All Persons | |||||
JB Claims | 4,276 | 2,175 | 1,998 | -177 | -2,278 |
JA Applications | 19,038 | 18,516 | 18,240 | -276 | -798 |
Other Registrants | 83 | 69 | 64 | -5 | -19 |
Total | 23,397 | 20,760 | 20,302 | -458 | -3,095 |
Table 1(c) Persons 25 years of age and over on the Live Register | |||||
Category | March 2020 | February 2021 | March 2021 | Monthly change | Annual change |
Males | |||||
JB Claims | 23,701 | 17,829 | 16,917 | -912 | -6,784 |
JA Applications | 70,042 | 69,573 | 68,916 | -657 | -1,126 |
Other Registrants | 6,451 | 5,862 | 5,816 | -46 | -635 |
Total | 100,194 | 93,264 | 91,649 | -1,615 | -8,545 |
Females | |||||
JB Claims | 26,015 | 18,442 | 17,516 | -926 | -8,499 |
JA Applications | 41,216 | 40,897 | 40,427 | -470 | -789 |
Other Registrants | 14,387 | 13,339 | 13,202 | -137 | -1,185 |
Total | 81,618 | 72,678 | 71,145 | -1,533 | -10,473 |
All Persons | |||||
JB Claims | 49,716 | 36,271 | 34,433 | -1,838 | -15,283 |
JA Applications | 111,258 | 110,470 | 109,343 | -1,127 | -1,915 |
Other Registrants | 20,838 | 19,201 | 19,018 | -183 | -1,820 |
Total | 181,812 | 165,942 | 162,794 | -3,148 | -19,018 |
Table 2(a) Total persons on the Live Register - Unadjusted and Seasonally Adjusted | ||||||||
Unadjusted Series | Seasonally Adjusted Series¹ | |||||||
Month | Males | Females | All Persons | Males | Females | All Persons | ||
2019 | March | 109,130 | 83,277 | 192,407 | 109,200 | 86,900 | 196,000 | |
April | 107,765 | 85,353 | 193,118 | 108,200 | 86,600 | 194,900 | ||
May | 107,018 | 82,849 | 189,867 | 106,500 | 85,500 | 191,900 | ||
June | 108,273 | 88,835 | 197,108 | 105,600 | 84,700 | 190,300 | ||
July | 108,936 | 97,460 | 206,396 | 104,900 | 84,000 | 188,900 | ||
August | 107,849 | 91,244 | 199,093 | 104,500 | 83,200 | 187,600 | ||
September | 103,548 | 80,235 | 183,783 | 105,000 | 82,400 | 187,400 | ||
October | 100,961 | 79,498 | 180,459 | 104,800 | 83,000 | 187,800 | ||
November | 100,659 | 76,895 | 177,554 | 104,800 | 82,000 | 186,800 | ||
December | 102,878 | 79,118 | 181,996 | 104,700 | 81,900 | 186,600 | ||
2020 | January | 104,605 | 79,150 | 183,755 | 104,200 | 81,700 | 185,900 | |
February | 103,596 | 79,020 | 182,616 | 103,100 | 81,200 | 184,300 | ||
March | 113,268 | 91,941 | 205,209 | 113,600 | 95,900 | 209,600 | ||
April | 119,232 | 95,509 | 214,741 | 119,900 | 96,900 | 216,800 | ||
May | 124,960 | 100,702 | 225,662 | 124,300 | 103,600 | 227,900 | ||
June | 121,108 | 99,763 | 220,871 | 118,000 | 95,500 | 213,500 | ||
July | 132,446 | 112,116 | 244,562 | 127,800 | 97,500 | 225,300 | ||
August | 122,503 | 103,341 | 225,844 | 118,500 | 94,600 | 213,000 | ||
September | 117,528 | 93,964 | 211,492 | 118,300 | 95,600 | 213,900 | ||
October | 112,253 | 90,919 | 203,172 | 116,000 | 94,100 | 210,000 | ||
November | 108,258 | 85,800 | 194,058 | 112,500 | 91,200 | 203,700 | ||
December | 106,152 | 83,708 | 189,860 | 108,400 | 86,900 | 195,300 | ||
2021 | January | 106,259 | 82,284 | 188,543 | 106,300 | 85,200 | 191,600 | |
February | 105,114 | 81,588 | 186,702 | 105,100 | 83,900 | 189,000 | ||
March | 103,283 | 79,813 | 183,096 | 103,900 | 82,500 | 186,300 | ||
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 | |||||||
Month | Males | Females | All Persons | Males | Females | All Persons | ||
2019 | March | 12,030 | 8,420 | 20,450 | 12,200 | 8,800 | 21,000 | |
April | 11,678 | 8,271 | 19,949 | 12,000 | 8,700 | 20,600 | ||
May | 11,891 | 8,456 | 20,347 | 11,700 | 8,500 | 20,200 | ||
June | 12,293 | 9,255 | 21,548 | 11,500 | 8,500 | 20,000 | ||
July | 12,500 | 9,990 | 22,490 | 11,500 | 8,400 | 19,900 | ||
August | 12,726 | 9,745 | 22,471 | 11,500 | 8,300 | 19,900 | ||
September | 11,949 | 8,393 | 20,342 | 11,700 | 8,300 | 20,000 | ||
October | 11,199 | 7,719 | 18,918 | 11,800 | 8,200 | 20,000 | ||
November | 11,000 | 7,362 | 18,362 | 11,900 | 8,300 | 20,200 | ||
December | 11,100 | 7,369 | 18,469 | 12,100 | 8,300 | 20,400 | ||
2020 | January | 11,738 | 7,853 | 19,591 | 12,200 | 8,300 | 20,500 | |
February | 11,699 | 8,033 | 19,732 | 12,000 | 8,300 | 20,300 | ||
March | 13,074 | 10,323 | 23,397 | 13,300 | 10,800 | 24,200 | ||
April | 14,281 | 11,317 | 25,598 | 14,600 | 11,900 | 26,600 | ||
May | 16,278 | 13,339 | 29,617 | 15,900 | 13,500 | 29,400 | ||
June | 16,343 | 13,236 | 29,579 | 15,200 | 12,100 | 27,300 | ||
July | 17,843 | 14,828 | 32,671 | 16,300 | 12,400 | 28,700 | ||
August | 17,107 | 14,257 | 31,364 | 15,400 | 12,100 | 27,500 | ||
September | 15,960 | 12,817 | 28,777 | 15,500 | 12,600 | 28,100 | ||
October | 13,850 | 11,021 | 24,871 | 14,600 | 11,800 | 26,400 | ||
November | 12,984 | 10,235 | 23,219 | 14,100 | 11,500 | 25,600 | ||
December | 11,936 | 9,065 | 21,001 | 13,100 | 10,200 | 23,300 | ||
2021 | January | 11,985 | 9,034 | 21,019 | 12,600 | 9,600 | 22,200 | |
February | 11,850 | 8,910 | 20,760 | 12,300 | 9,200 | 21,500 | ||
March | 11,634 | 8,668 | 20,302 | 11,900 | 9,100 | 21,000 | ||
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 | |||||||
Month | Males | Females | All Persons | Males | Females | All Persons | ||
2019 | March | 97,100 | 74,857 | 171,957 | 96,900 | 78,100 | 175,000 | |
April | 96,087 | 77,082 | 173,169 | 96,300 | 77,900 | 174,200 | ||
May | 95,127 | 74,393 | 169,520 | 94,800 | 76,900 | 171,700 | ||
June | 95,980 | 79,580 | 175,560 | 94,100 | 76,200 | 170,300 | ||
July | 96,436 | 87,470 | 183,906 | 93,400 | 75,600 | 169,000 | ||
August | 95,123 | 81,499 | 176,622 | 92,900 | 74,800 | 167,800 | ||
September | 91,599 | 71,842 | 163,441 | 93,300 | 74,100 | 167,400 | ||
October | 89,762 | 71,779 | 161,541 | 93,100 | 74,700 | 167,800 | ||
November | 89,659 | 69,533 | 159,192 | 92,900 | 73,700 | 166,600 | ||
December | 91,778 | 71,749 | 163,527 | 92,600 | 73,600 | 166,200 | ||
2020 | January | 92,867 | 71,297 | 164,164 | 92,000 | 73,400 | 165,400 | |
February | 91,897 | 70,987 | 162,884 | 91,100 | 72,900 | 164,000 | ||
March | 100,194 | 81,618 | 181,812 | 100,300 | 85,100 | 185,400 | ||
April | 104,951 | 84,192 | 189,143 | 105,200 | 85,000 | 190,200 | ||
May | 108,682 | 87,363 | 196,045 | 108,400 | 90,100 | 198,500 | ||
June | 104,765 | 86,527 | 191,292 | 102,800 | 83,400 | 186,200 | ||
July | 114,603 | 97,288 | 211,891 | 111,500 | 85,100 | 196,700 | ||
August | 105,396 | 89,084 | 194,480 | 103,100 | 82,500 | 185,600 | ||
September | 101,568 | 81,147 | 182,715 | 102,800 | 83,000 | 185,800 | ||
October | 98,403 | 79,898 | 178,301 | 101,400 | 82,300 | 183,700 | ||
November | 95,274 | 75,565 | 170,839 | 98,400 | 79,700 | 178,100 | ||
December | 94,216 | 74,643 | 168,859 | 95,300 | 76,700 | 172,000 | ||
2021 | January | 94,274 | 73,250 | 167,524 | 93,700 | 75,700 | 169,400 | |
February | 93,264 | 72,678 | 165,942 | 92,800 | 74,700 | 167,500 | ||
March | 91,649 | 71,145 | 162,794 | 91,900 | 73,400 | 165,300 | ||
¹ Table contains revised figures |
Table 3 Summary of flows on and off the Live Register¹ | |||||||||||||||
Males | Females | All Claimants | |||||||||||||
Live Register | Joined Live Register | Stayed on Live Register | Left Live Register | Live Register | Joined Live Register | Stayed on Live Register | Left Live Register | Live Register | Joined Live Register | Stayed on Live Register | Left Live Register | ||||
JB Claims | |||||||||||||||
2020 | March | 25,549 | 9,385 | 16,164 | 2,678 | 28,443 | 12,116 | 16,327 | 2,697 | 53,992 | 21,501 | 32,491 | 5,375 | ||
April | 28,335 | 6,201 | 22,134 | 2,666 | 29,665 | 4,995 | 24,670 | 3,124 | 58,000 | 11,196 | 46,804 | 5,790 | |||
May | 29,780 | 5,149 | 24,631 | 3,114 | 31,216 | 4,956 | 26,260 | 2,851 | 60,996 | 10,105 | 50,891 | 5,965 | |||
June | 26,682 | 4,611 | 22,071 | 7,035 | 30,108 | 6,188 | 23,920 | 6,670 | 56,790 | 10,799 | 45,991 | 13,705 | |||
July | 33,463 | 12,856 | 20,607 | 5,074 | 37,359 | 13,134 | 24,225 | 4,970 | 70,822 | 25,990 | 44,832 | 10,044 | |||
August | 24,747 | 4,767 | 19,980 | 12,595 | 29,959 | 4,911 | 25,048 | 11,558 | 54,706 | 9,678 | 45,028 | 24,153 | |||
September | 22,154 | 4,252 | 17,902 | 6,010 | 23,997 | 4,816 | 19,181 | 10,123 | 46,151 | 9,068 | 37,083 | 16,133 | |||
October | 21,441 | 6,203 | 15,238 | 5,973 | 24,278 | 7,443 | 16,835 | 6,262 | 45,719 | 13,646 | 32,073 | 12,235 | |||
November | 19,850 | 3,346 | 16,504 | 4,189 | 21,473 | 3,262 | 18,211 | 5,460 | 41,323 | 6,608 | 34,715 | 9,649 | |||
December | 18,985 | 2,999 | 15,986 | 2,983 | 20,767 | 3,265 | 17,502 | 3,309 | 39,752 | 6,264 | 33,488 | 6,292 | |||
2021 | January | 19,196 | 3,455 | 15,741 | 2,735 | 19,794 | 3,015 | 16,779 | 3,561 | 38,990 | 6,470 | 32,520 | 6,296 | ||
February | 18,800 | 2,385 | 16,415 | 2,349 | 19,646 | 2,468 | 17,178 | 2,279 | 38,446 | 4,853 | 33,593 | 4,628 | |||
March | 17,794 | 1,797 | 15,997 | 2,328 | 18,637 | 1,803 | 16,834 | 2,393 | 36,431 | 3,600 | 32,831 | 4,721 | |||
JA Applications | |||||||||||||||
2020 | March | 81,229 | 7,573 | 73,656 | 4,445 | 49,067 | 6,509 | 42,558 | 2,698 | 130,296 | 14,082 | 116,214 | 7,143 | ||
April | 84,476 | 5,302 | 79,174 | 2,756 | 51,462 | 3,919 | 47,543 | 2,033 | 135,938 | 9,221 | 126,717 | 4,789 | |||
May | 88,816 | 6,486 | 82,330 | 2,702 | 55,260 | 5,497 | 49,763 | 2,175 | 144,076 | 11,983 | 132,093 | 4,877 | |||
June | 88,088 | 5,722 | 82,366 | 7,061 | 55,294 | 5,491 | 49,803 | 5,927 | 143,382 | 11,213 | 132,169 | 12,988 | |||
July | 92,700 | 9,377 | 83,323 | 5,704 | 60,056 | 8,345 | 51,711 | 4,300 | 152,756 | 17,722 | 135,034 | 10,004 | |||
August | 91,502 | 6,178 | 85,324 | 8,196 | 58,801 | 4,866 | 53,935 | 6,704 | 150,303 | 11,044 | 139,259 | 14,900 | |||
September | 89,238 | 5,441 | 83,797 | 8,476 | 55,856 | 4,230 | 51,626 | 7,703 | 145,094 | 9,671 | 135,423 | 16,179 | |||
October | 84,703 | 6,119 | 78,584 | 11,494 | 52,631 | 5,169 | 47,462 | 9,101 | 137,334 | 11,288 | 126,046 | 20,595 | |||
November | 82,341 | 3,754 | 78,587 | 6,802 | 50,526 | 3,088 | 47,438 | 5,662 | 132,867 | 6,842 | 126,025 | 12,464 | |||
December | 81,181 | 2,950 | 78,231 | 4,925 | 49,224 | 2,253 | 46,971 | 4,065 | 130,405 | 5,203 | 125,202 | 8,990 | |||
2021 | January | 81,111 | 3,333 | 77,778 | 3,880 | 48,999 | 2,649 | 46,350 | 3,220 | 130,110 | 5,982 | 124,128 | 7,100 | ||
February | 80,412 | 2,608 | 77,804 | 3,686 | 48,574 | 2,128 | 46,446 | 2,817 | 128,986 | 4,736 | 124,250 | 6,503 | |||
March | 79,640 | 2,358 | 77,282 | 3,541 | 47,943 | 1,804 | 46,139 | 2,770 | 127,583 | 4,162 | 123,421 | 6,311 | |||
Other Registrants | |||||||||||||||
2020 | March | 6,490 | 96 | 6,394 | 257 | 14,431 | 235 | 14,196 | 546 | 20,921 | 331 | 20,590 | 803 | ||
April | 6,421 | 87 | 6,334 | 203 | 14,382 | 192 | 14,190 | 382 | 20,803 | 279 | 20,524 | 585 | |||
May | 6,364 | 56 | 6,308 | 148 | 14,226 | 106 | 14,120 | 339 | 20,590 | 162 | 20,428 | 487 | |||
June | 6,338 | 79 | 6,259 | 165 | 14,361 | 228 | 14,133 | 252 | 20,699 | 307 | 20,392 | 417 | |||
July | 6,283 | 94 | 6,189 | 212 | 14,701 | 524 | 14,177 | 379 | 20,984 | 618 | 20,366 | 591 | |||
August | 6,254 | 69 | 6,185 | 166 | 14,581 | 160 | 14,421 | 450 | 20,835 | 229 | 20,606 | 616 | |||
September | 6,136 | 81 | 6,055 | 263 | 14,111 | 158 | 13,953 | 755 | 20,247 | 239 | 20,008 | 1,018 | |||
October | 6,109 | 120 | 5,989 | 249 | 14,010 | 292 | 13,718 | 587 | 20,119 | 412 | 19,707 | 836 | |||
November | 6,067 | 119 | 5,948 | 222 | 13,801 | 195 | 13,606 | 543 | 19,868 | 314 | 19,554 | 765 | |||
December | 5,986 | 98 | 5,888 | 246 | 13,717 | 230 | 13,487 | 465 | 19,703 | 328 | 19,375 | 711 | |||
2021 | January | 5,952 | 110 | 5,842 | 177 | 13,491 | 150 | 13,341 | 456 | 19,443 | 260 | 19,183 | 633 | ||
February | 5,902 | 68 | 5,834 | 170 | 13,368 | 156 | 13,212 | 353 | 19,270 | 224 | 19,046 | 523 | |||
March | 5,849 | 65 | 5,784 | 183 | 13,233 | 105 | 13,128 | 323 | 19,082 | 170 | 18,912 | 506 | |||
All Schemes | |||||||||||||||
2020 | March | 113,268 | 17,054 | 96,214 | 7,380 | 91,941 | 18,860 | 73,081 | 5,941 | 205,209 | 35,914 | 169,295 | 13,321 | ||
April | 119,232 | 11,590 | 107,642 | 5,625 | 95,509 | 9,106 | 86,403 | 5,539 | 214,741 | 20,696 | 194,045 | 11,164 | |||
May | 124,960 | 11,691 | 113,269 | 5,964 | 100,702 | 10,559 | 90,143 | 5,365 | 225,662 | 22,250 | 203,412 | 11,329 | |||
June | 121,108 | 10,412 | 110,696 | 14,261 | 99,763 | 11,907 | 87,856 | 12,849 | 220,871 | 22,319 | 198,552 | 27,110 | |||
July | 132,446 | 22,327 | 110,119 | 10,990 | 112,116 | 22,003 | 90,113 | 9,649 | 244,562 | 44,330 | 200,232 | 20,639 | |||
August | 122,503 | 11,014 | 111,489 | 20,957 | 103,341 | 9,937 | 93,404 | 18,712 | 225,844 | 20,951 | 204,893 | 39,669 | |||
September | 117,528 | 9,774 | 107,754 | 14,749 | 93,964 | 9,204 | 84,760 | 18,581 | 211,492 | 18,978 | 192,514 | 33,330 | |||
October | 112,253 | 12,442 | 99,811 | 17,716 | 90,919 | 12,904 | 78,015 | 15,950 | 203,172 | 25,346 | 177,826 | 33,666 | |||
November | 108,258 | 7,219 | 101,039 | 11,213 | 85,800 | 6,545 | 79,255 | 11,665 | 194,058 | 13,764 | 180,294 | 22,878 | |||
December | 106,152 | 6,047 | 100,105 | 8,154 | 83,708 | 5,748 | 77,960 | 7,839 | 189,860 | 11,795 | 178,065 | 15,993 | |||
2021 | January | 106,259 | 6,898 | 99,361 | 6,792 | 82,284 | 5,814 | 76,470 | 7,237 | 188,543 | 12,712 | 175,831 | 14,029 | ||
February | 105,114 | 5,061 | 100,053 | 6,205 | 81,588 | 4,752 | 76,836 | 5,449 | 186,702 | 9,813 | 176,889 | 11,654 | |||
March | 103,283 | 4,220 | 99,063 | 6,052 | 79,813 | 3,712 | 76,101 | 5,486 | 183,096 | 7,932 | 175,164 | 11,538 | |||
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 Regions¹ | March 2020 | February 2021 | March 2021 | Monthly change | Annual change | Under 25 years | 25 years & over |
Males | |||||||
Northern and Western | 21,582 | 19,838 | 19,555 | -283 | -2,027 | 2,091 | 17,464 |
Border | 11,217 | 10,271 | 10,165 | -106 | -1,052 | 1,125 | 9,040 |
West | 10,365 | 9,567 | 9,390 | -177 | -975 | 966 | 8,424 |
Southern | 36,944 | 34,886 | 34,153 | -733 | -2,791 | 3,809 | 30,344 |
Mid-West | 11,589 | 11,079 | 10,926 | -153 | -663 | 1,246 | 9,680 |
South-East | 12,492 | 11,676 | 11,482 | -194 | -1,010 | 1,405 | 10,077 |
South-West | 12,863 | 12,131 | 11,745 | -386 | -1,118 | 1,158 | 10,587 |
Eastern and Midland | 49,689 | 49,008 | 48,419 | -589 | -1,270 | 5,433 | 42,986 |
Dublin | 27,480 | 27,854 | 27,615 | -239 | +135 | 2,937 | 24,678 |
Mid-East | 14,054 | 13,581 | 13,350 | -231 | -704 | 1,571 | 11,779 |
Midland | 8,155 | 7,573 | 7,454 | -119 | -701 | 925 | 6,529 |
Total | 113,268 | 105,114 | 103,283 | -1,831 | -9,985 | 11,634 | 91,649 |
Females | |||||||
Northern and Western | 18,066 | 15,921 | 15,666 | -255 | -2,400 | 1,668 | 13,998 |
Border | 9,153 | 8,086 | 8,008 | -78 | -1,145 | 918 | 7,090 |
West | 8,913 | 7,835 | 7,658 | -177 | -1,255 | 750 | 6,908 |
Southern | 29,437 | 26,861 | 26,218 | -643 | -3,219 | 2,930 | 23,288 |
Mid-West | 8,725 | 7,986 | 7,845 | -141 | -880 | 972 | 6,873 |
South-East | 9,701 | 9,197 | 8,998 | -199 | -703 | 1,025 | 7,973 |
South-West | 11,011 | 9,678 | 9,375 | -303 | -1,636 | 933 | 8,442 |
Eastern and Midland | 37,652 | 37,508 | 36,828 | -680 | -824 | 3,834 | 32,994 |
Dublin | 19,139 | 19,918 | 19,567 | -351 | +428 | 1,871 | 17,696 |
Mid-East | 11,802 | 11,309 | 11,078 | -231 | -724 | 1,154 | 9,924 |
Midland | 6,711 | 6,281 | 6,183 | -98 | -528 | 809 | 5,374 |
Total | 91,941 | 81,588 | 79,813 | -1,775 | -12,128 | 8,668 | 71,145 |
All Persons | |||||||
Northern and Western | 39,648 | 35,759 | 35,221 | -538 | -4,427 | 3,759 | 31,462 |
Border | 20,370 | 18,357 | 18,173 | -184 | -2,197 | 2,043 | 16,130 |
West | 19,278 | 17,402 | 17,048 | -354 | -2,230 | 1,716 | 15,332 |
Southern | 66,381 | 61,747 | 60,371 | -1,376 | -6,010 | 6,739 | 53,632 |
Mid-West | 20,314 | 19,065 | 18,771 | -294 | -1,543 | 2,218 | 16,553 |
South-East | 22,193 | 20,873 | 20,480 | -393 | -1,713 | 2,430 | 18,050 |
South-West | 23,874 | 21,809 | 21,120 | -689 | -2,754 | 2,091 | 19,029 |
Eastern and Midland | 87,341 | 86,516 | 85,247 | -1,269 | -2,094 | 9,267 | 75,980 |
Dublin | 46,619 | 47,772 | 47,182 | -590 | +563 | 4,808 | 42,374 |
Mid-East | 25,856 | 24,890 | 24,428 | -462 | -1,428 | 2,725 | 21,703 |
Midland | 14,866 | 13,854 | 13,637 | -217 | -1,229 | 1,734 | 11,903 |
Total2 | 205,209 | 186,702 | 183,096 | -3,606 | -22,113 | 20,302 | 162,794 |
1 The composition of the regions is described in the Background Notes | |||||||
2 From January 2018, registrations which have yet not being assigned to a DSP local office of registration are included in the Live Register Totals. These registrations are not included in individual NUTS3/ NUTS2 totals in this table |
Table 5 Persons on the Live Register classified by last held occupation | |||||||
Broad occupational group | March 2020 | February 2021 | March 2021 | Monthly change | Annual change | Under 25 years | 25 years & over |
Males | |||||||
Managers and administrators | 5,773 | 4,756 | 4,644 | -112 | -1,129 | 106 | 4,538 |
Professional | 5,482 | 4,637 | 4,523 | -114 | -959 | 202 | 4,321 |
Associate professional and technical | 3,699 | 3,793 | 3,713 | -80 | +14 | 210 | 3,503 |
Clerical and secretarial | 5,681 | 4,816 | 4,676 | -140 | -1,005 | 392 | 4,284 |
Craft and related | 27,896 | 23,031 | 22,588 | -443 | -5,308 | 1,469 | 21,119 |
Personal and protective service | 10,235 | 7,771 | 7,682 | -89 | -2,553 | 627 | 7,055 |
Sales | 7,004 | 6,012 | 5,903 | -109 | -1,101 | 1,221 | 4,682 |
Plant and machine operatives | 21,786 | 18,165 | 17,734 | -431 | -4,052 | 1,604 | 16,130 |
Other occupation | 18,080 | 16,252 | 15,998 | -254 | -2,082 | 1,828 | 14,170 |
No occupation¹ | 7,632 | 15,881 | 15,822 | -59 | +8,190 | 3,975 | 11,847 |
Total | 113,268 | 105,114 | 103,283 | -1,831 | -9,985 | 11,634 | 91,649 |
Females | |||||||
Managers and administrators | 5,189 | 3,924 | 3,848 | -76 | -1,341 | 63 | 3,785 |
Professional | 7,363 | 5,963 | 5,711 | -252 | -1,652 | 212 | 5,499 |
Associate professional and technical | 3,242 | 2,984 | 2,890 | -94 | -352 | 120 | 2,770 |
Clerical and secretarial | 15,796 | 12,771 | 12,250 | -521 | -3,546 | 430 | 11,820 |
Craft and related | 5,994 | 4,575 | 4,459 | -116 | -1,535 | 450 | 4,009 |
Personal and protective service | 21,352 | 14,985 | 14,647 | -338 | -6,705 | 1,393 | 13,254 |
Sales | 12,170 | 10,413 | 10,244 | -169 | -1,926 | 1,477 | 8,767 |
Plant and machine operatives | 8,824 | 6,787 | 6,637 | -150 | -2,187 | 686 | 5,951 |
Other occupation | 6,766 | 6,292 | 6,195 | -97 | -571 | 908 | 5,287 |
No occupation¹ | 5,245 | 12,894 | 12,932 | +38 | +7,687 | 2,929 | 10,003 |
Total | 91,941 | 81,588 | 79,813 | -1,775 | -12,128 | 8,668 | 71,145 |
All Persons | |||||||
Managers and administrators | 10,962 | 8,680 | 8,492 | -188 | -2,470 | 169 | 8,323 |
Professional | 12,845 | 10,600 | 10,234 | -366 | -2,611 | 414 | 9,820 |
Associate professional and technical | 6,941 | 6,777 | 6,603 | -174 | -338 | 330 | 6,273 |
Clerical and secretarial | 21,477 | 17,587 | 16,926 | -661 | -4,551 | 822 | 16,104 |
Craft and related | 33,890 | 27,606 | 27,047 | -559 | -6,843 | 1,919 | 25,128 |
Personal and protective service | 31,587 | 22,756 | 22,329 | -427 | -9,258 | 2,020 | 20,309 |
Sales | 19,174 | 16,425 | 16,147 | -278 | -3,027 | 2,698 | 13,449 |
Plant and machine operatives | 30,610 | 24,952 | 24,371 | -581 | -6,239 | 2,290 | 22,081 |
Other occupation | 24,846 | 22,544 | 22,193 | -351 | -2,653 | 2,736 | 19,457 |
No occupation¹ | 12,877 | 28,775 | 28,754 | -21 | +15,877 | 6,904 | 21,850 |
Total | 205,209 | 186,702 | 183,096 | -3,606 | -22,113 | 20,302 | 162,794 |
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 | |||||||
Duration | March 2020 | February 2021 | March 2021 | Monthly change | Annual change | Under 25 years | 25 years & over |
Males | |||||||
Less than one year | 73,961 | 57,386 | 54,314 | -3,072 | -19,647 | 7,287 | 47,027 |
One year or more | 39,307 | 47,728 | 48,969 | +1,241 | +9,662 | 4,347 | 44,622 |
Total | 113,268 | 105,114 | 103,283 | -1,831 | -9,985 | 11,634 | 91,649 |
Females | |||||||
Less than one year | 64,283 | 50,097 | 47,632 | -2,465 | -16,651 | 6,079 | 41,553 |
One year or more | 27,658 | 31,491 | 32,181 | +690 | +4,523 | 2,589 | 29,592 |
Total | 91,941 | 81,588 | 79,813 | -1,775 | -12,128 | 8,668 | 71,145 |
All Persons | |||||||
Less than one year | 138,244 | 107,483 | 101,946 | -5,537 | -36,298 | 13,366 | 88,580 |
One year or more | 66,965 | 79,219 | 81,150 | +1,931 | +14,185 | 6,936 | 74,214 |
Total | 205,209 | 186,702 | 183,096 | -3,606 | -22,113 | 20,302 | 162,794 |
Table 7 Casual and part-time workers on the Live Register | |||||||||
Males | Monthly change | Females | Monthly change | All Persons | Monthly change | ||||
2019 | March | 19,803 | -287 | 20,956 | -218 | 40,759 | -505 | ||
April | 19,280 | -523 | 20,403 | -553 | 39,683 | -1,076 | |||
May | 18,502 | -778 | 19,894 | -509 | 38,396 | -1,287 | |||
June | 18,259 | -243 | 19,856 | -38 | 38,115 | -281 | |||
July | 17,915 | -344 | 19,671 | -185 | 37,586 | -529 | |||
August | 17,543 | -372 | 19,236 | -435 | 36,779 | -807 | |||
September | 17,408 | -135 | 18,703 | -533 | 36,111 | -668 | |||
October | 17,320 | -88 | 18,629 | -74 | 35,949 | -162 | |||
November | 17,562 | +242 | 18,964 | +335 | 36,526 | +577 | |||
December | 17,754 | +192 | 19,062 | +98 | 36,816 | +290 | |||
2020 | January | 17,561 | -193 | 18,794 | -268 | 36,355 | -461 | ||
February | 17,661 | +100 | 18,945 | +151 | 36,606 | +251 | |||
March | 17,689 | +28 | 18,918 | -27 | 36,607 | +1 | |||
April | 17,436 | -253 | 18,861 | -57 | 36,297 | -310 | |||
May | 17,643 | +207 | 18,873 | +12 | 36,516 | +219 | |||
June | 17,630 | -13 | 19,026 | +153 | 36,656 | +140 | |||
July | 17,763 | +133 | 19,458 | +432 | 37,221 | +565 | |||
August | 17,412 | -351 | 19,269 | -189 | 36,681 | -540 | |||
September | 17,305 | -107 | 19,557 | +288 | 36,862 | +181 | |||
October | 19,678 | +2,373 | 22,310 | +2,753 | 41,988 | +5,126 | |||
November | 19,692 | +14 | 22,050 | -260 | 41,742 | -246 | |||
December | 19,304 | -388 | 21,454 | -596 | 40,758 | -984 | |||
2021 | January | 19,142 | -162 | 20,815 | -639 | 39,957 | -801 | ||
February | 18,984 | -158 | 20,303 | -512 | 39,287 | -670 | |||
March | 18,498 | -486 | 19,811 | -492 | 38,309 | -978 |
Table 8 Persons on the Live Register classified by nationality grouping | |||||||||
Nationality grouping | |||||||||
Non-Irish nationals | |||||||||
United Kingdom | EU14_2020 excl. IRL 1 | EU15-EU27_2020 1 | Other | Non-Irish nationals | Irish nationals | All Persons | |||
2019 | March | 7,557 | 2,438 | 18,873 | 5,948 | 34,816 | 157,591 | 192,407 | |
April | 7,472 | 2,436 | 18,481 | 5,953 | 34,342 | 158,776 | 193,118 | ||
May | 7,404 | 2,393 | 18,027 | 6,232 | 34,056 | 155,811 | 189,867 | ||
June | 7,590 | 2,467 | 18,060 | 6,545 | 34,662 | 162,446 | 197,108 | ||
July | 7,820 | 2,554 | 18,126 | 6,735 | 35,235 | 171,161 | 206,396 | ||
August | 7,667 | 2,492 | 17,788 | 6,696 | 34,643 | 164,450 | 199,093 | ||
September | 7,053 | 2,372 | 17,417 | 6,538 | 33,380 | 150,403 | 183,783 | ||
October | 6,958 | 2,265 | 16,785 | 5,921 | 31,929 | 148,530 | 180,459 | ||
November | 6,935 | 2,318 | 16,835 | 5,837 | 31,925 | 145,629 | 177,554 | ||
December | 7,140 | 2,395 | 17,368 | 5,890 | 32,793 | 149,203 | 181,996 | ||
2020 | January | 7,155 | 2,488 | 17,873 | 6,031 | 33,547 | 150,208 | 183,755 | |
February | 7,108 | 2,469 | 17,835 | 6,050 | 33,462 | 149,154 | 182,616 | ||
March | 7,764 | 3,545 | 21,078 | 8,983 | 41,370 | 163,839 | 205,209 | ||
April | 8,081 | 3,827 | 22,174 | 10,196 | 44,278 | 170,463 | 214,741 | ||
May | 8,398 | 4,406 | 23,140 | 12,483 | 48,427 | 177,235 | 225,662 | ||
June | 8,266 | 3,653 | 21,818 | 10,280 | 44,017 | 176,854 | 220,871 | ||
July | 9,054 | 4,089 | 24,289 | 11,898 | 49,330 | 195,232 | 244,562 | ||
August | 8,490 | 3,704 | 21,406 | 10,980 | 44,580 | 181,264 | 225,844 | ||
September | 8,050 | 3,414 | 20,569 | 9,756 | 41,789 | 169,703 | 211,492 | ||
October | 7,791 | 3,396 | 20,265 | 8,333 | 39,785 | 163,387 | 203,172 | ||
November | 7,488 | 3,189 | 19,203 | 7,494 | 37,374 | 156,684 | 194,058 | ||
December | 7,334 | 3,021 | 18,636 | 7,076 | 36,067 | 153,793 | 189,860 | ||
2021 | January | 7,352 | 2,933 | 18,688 | 7,121 | 36,094 | 152,449 | 188,543 | |
February | 7,301 | 2,868 | 18,436 | 7,071 | 35,676 | 151,026 | 186,702 | ||
March | 7,201 | 2,810 | 18,130 | 6,953 | 35,094 | 148,002 | 183,096 | ||
1 In light of the United Kingdom (UK) leaving the European Union with effect from 1 February 2020, the EU classification has been updated. | |||||||||
EU14_2020 excl. IRL before February 2020 was formally classified as EU15 excl. IRL & UK. | |||||||||
EU15-EU27_2020 before February 2020 was formally classified as EU15 to EU28 States. |
Annex Table A1 - Number of persons availing of Activation Programmes | |||
February 2020 | January 2021 | February 2021 | |
Back to Work Schemes | |||
Back to Work Enterprise allowance scheme -self employed strand | 3,930 | 2,648 | 2,585 |
Short-term Enterprise Allowance1 | 271 | 160 | 155 |
Total Back to Work payments | 4,201 | 2,808 | 2,740 |
Other Activation Programmes | |||
DSP Part-time Job Incentive | 177 | 317 | 228 |
TUS - Community Work Placement Initiative (2011) | 5,502 | 4,071 | 4,028 |
Total Other Activation Programmes | 5,679 | 4,388 | 4,256 |
Community Employment Schemes (excluding Supervisors) | 21,131 | 19,429 | 19,328 |
SOLAS (FAS) Full Time Training for Unemployed People | 7,880 | 4,792 | 4,698 |
Back to Education Courses | |||
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)2 | 2,704 | 2,212 | 2,191 |
Back to Education Allowance (BTEA)3 | 6,867 | 6,429 | 6,294 |
Total Back to Education Courses4 | 9,571 | 8,641 | 8,485 |
Total Activation Programmes | 48,462 | 40,058 | 39,507 |
1 This scheme was introduced from 1st May 2009. It provides immediate support for someone in receipt of Jobseekers Benefit who wants to start a business. | |||
2 Starting from January 2019, VTOS figures for 2018 and 2019 are being supplied directly from the new SOLAS computer system PLSS. VTOS figures were estimated at 5,000 per month to December 2017. | |||
3 BTEA figures include all schemes but participants from JA & JB are not entitled to BTEA during the summer holidays. In 2020 the majority of BTEA recipients were paid for the summer period. | |||
4 Includes MOMENTUM participants from February 2013. |
Annex Table A2 Number of Persons on the Live Register and in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment or Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and Total (excluding overlaps) | |||||
Category | Live Register | Pandemic Unemployment Payment 1 | Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme 1 | Total (Excluding overlaps) 1,2 | |
March 20213 | Males | ||||
Under 25 years of age | 11,634 | 53,018 | - | - | |
25 years of age and over | 91,649 | 189,087 | - | - | |
Total | 103,283 | 242,105 | - | - | |
Females | |||||
Under 25 years of age | 8,668 | 53,847 | - | - | |
25 years of age and over | 71,145 | 147,295 | - | - | |
Total | 79,813 | 201,142 | - | - | |
All Persons | |||||
Under 25 years of age | 20,302 | 106,865 | - | - | |
25 years of age and over | 162,794 | 336,382 | - | - | |
Total | 183,096 | 443,247 | - | - | |
February 20213 | Males | ||||
Under 25 years of age | 11,850 | 55,457 | - | - | |
25 years of age and over | 93,264 | 202,317 | - | - | |
Total | 105,114 | 257,774 | - | - | |
Females | |||||
Under 25 years of age | 8,910 | 55,789 | - | - | |
25 years of age and over | 72,678 | 155,328 | - | - | |
Total | 81,588 | 211,117 | - | - | |
All Persons | |||||
Under 25 years of age | 20,760 | 111,246 | - | - | |
25 years of age and over | 165,942 | 357,645 | - | - | |
Total | 186,702 | 468,891 | - | - | |
March 20203 | Males | ||||
Under 25 years of age | 13,074 | 40,956 | 4,499 | 41,729 | |
25 years of age and over | 100,194 | 154,256 | 24,050 | 219,303 | |
Total | 113,268 | 195,212 | 28,549 | 261,032 | |
Females | |||||
Under 25 years of age | 10,323 | 49,889 | 4,788 | 39,135 | |
25 years of age and over | 81,618 | 148,872 | 20,777 | 173,405 | |
Total | 91,941 | 198,761 | 25,565 | 212,540 | |
All Persons | |||||
Under 25 years of age | 23,397 | 90,845 | 9,287 | 80,864 | |
25 years of age and over | 181,812 | 303,128 | 44,827 | 392,708 | |
Total | 205,209 | 393,973 | 54,114 | 473,572 | |
1Subject to revision due to different payment frequencies | |||||
2Total number of persons on the Live Register and/or receiving a Pandemic Unemployment Payment or in receipt of Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme | |||||
3The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme closed at the end of August 2020. The CSO has not yet disseminated data for the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme | |||||
which replaced it so estimates for that scheme and the Total (Excluding overlaps) are not yet available. |
Annex Table A3 - Live Register total classified by Recipient and Non-recipient | ||||
Recipients | Non-Recipients | Total | ||
2019 | March | 174,730 | 17,677 | 192,407 |
April | 170,186 | 22,932 | 193,118 | |
May | 171,664 | 18,203 | 189,867 | |
June | 175,366 | 21,742 | 197,108 | |
July | 184,101 | 22,295 | 206,396 | |
August | 180,221 | 18,872 | 199,093 | |
September | 164,388 | 19,395 | 183,783 | |
October | 159,056 | 21,403 | 180,459 | |
November | 159,724 | 17,830 | 177,554 | |
December | 168,137 | 13,859 | 181,996 | |
2020 | January | 164,507 | 19,248 | 183,755 |
February | 164,547 | 18,069 | 182,616 | |
March | 167,854 | 37,355 | 205,209 | |
April | 159,831 | 54,910 | 214,741 | |
May | 163,956 | 61,706 | 225,662 | |
June | 169,976 | 50,895 | 220,871 | |
July | 181,438 | 63,124 | 244,562 | |
August | 181,079 | 44,765 | 225,844 | |
September | 172,419 | 39,073 | 211,492 | |
October | 166,766 | 36,406 | 203,172 | |
November | 166,591 | 27,467 | 194,058 | |
December | 168,372 | 21,488 | 189,860 | |
2021 | January | 164,960 | 23,583 | 188,543 |
February | 165,930 | 20,772 | 186,702 | |
March | 163,587 | 19,509 | 183,096 |
The Live Register is compiled from returns made for each local office to the Central Statistics Office by the Department of Social Protection (DSP). It comprises of persons under 65 years of age in the following classes:
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 01 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 DSP 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 DSP 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.
The Pandemic Unemployment Payment is a scheme set up by the Government in response to the loss of income for those whose employment had been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. It is compiled from returns made to the Central Statistics Office by the Department of Social Protection (DSP). Payments under the scheme commenced on the week ending 22 March 2020, and will be reported under the Live Register release while the scheme is in place.
The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme is another scheme set up by the Government in response to the loss of income for those whose employment had been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. It is compiled from returns made to the Central Statistics Office by the Revenue Commissioners. Refunds are issued to employers registered under the scheme, who in turn pay their employees. The figures in this release reflect the number of persons receiving a payment under the scheme based on the pay date of the employee and will be reported a weekly basis as well as a monthly cumulative. Refunds under the scheme commenced on the week ending 28 March 2020, but might refer to earlier pay dates. Please see PxStat.
The reference periods for the Live Register and the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (where applicable) results are as follows
March 2021 – 1 March to 28 March 2021
February 2021 – 1 February to 28 February 2021
January 2021 - 4 January to 31 January 2021
December 2020 - 30 November 2020 to 3 January 2021
March 2020 - 2 March to 29 March 2020
From May 2015 (reference period) the reference period for the Live Register refers to the week of the last Thursday in the month, previously the reference period referred to the week of the last Friday in the month.
The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment. It includes part-time (those who work up to three days a week), seasonal and casual workers entitled to Jobseekers Allowance and or Jobseekers Benefit. Monthly unemployment is measured by the Monthly Unemployment release and quarterly unemployment is measured by the Labour Force Survey (formerly the Quarterly National Household Survey).
The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) was replaced by the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) on 01 September 2020. The final update to the number of persons benefitting from the TWSS on a weekly basis is included in the PxStat tables. No further TWSS updates will be provided given that the TWSS scheme is now closed.
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 was published on 31 March 2021.
The Labour Force Survey (LFS), was launched in January 2018 with the publication of Quarter 3 2017 data (Q3 2017). The Labour Force survey replaced the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS).
The LFS provides quarterly estimates of the unemployment rate.
The calendar reference quarters for survey results are:
Q1 - January to March, Q2 - April to June, Q3 - July to September and Q4 - October to December.
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. Revisions to the series are typically very minor in scale.
Seasonally adjusting the Live Register series during the Covid-19 crisis period will be challenging until the scale and shape of its impact on the time series is better understood. This initial seasonally adjusted result might be revised for some months ahead as future observations become available. Users should be aware that there is increases uncertainty around the seasonally adjusted figures during this period.
For additional information on the use of X-12-ARIMA see detailed note in the January 2011 Live Register release.
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.
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 DSP website:
http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/278_One-Parent-Family-Payment.aspx
Live Register flows are calculated by analysing persons on the Live Register in the reference week of the reference month compared to those on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month. The flows are calculated as follows:
Joined Live Register: Persons on the Live Register in the reference week of the current month who were not present on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month.
Stayed on Live Register: Persons on the Live Register in the reference week of the current month who were also present on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month.
Left Live Register: Persons not on the Live Register in the reference week of the current month who were present on the Live Register in the reference week of the previous month.
Inflows and outflows published in this release relate to persons moving on or off the Live Register. Inter-scheme movement is not counted as a Live Register flow. For example, if a claimant exhausts his/her entitlement to JB and opens a new JA claim, this is not counted as an outflow in JB and an inflow in JA. The person has moved scheme but has not joined nor left the Live Register. Thus, those persons who move schemes from one month to the next are counted as “Stayed on the Live Register”.
The basis of the area analysis in Live Register statistics is the DSP local office of registration. The areas served by Local Employment Offices do not correspond to specific geographic boundaries. Therefore, registrants at a given local office do not necessarily come from a particular region or area which can be precisely delineated e.g. data for the Cork City Local Offices of Registration refers to all persons signing on in Cork City but may include persons not resident in Cork City.
From January 2018, registrations which have yet not being assigned to a DSP local office of registration are included in the Live Register totals. Therefore as these registrations are not included in the regional breakdowns, the sum of these regions may not add to the Live Register totals.
The latest available Live Register data by Province, County and Local Office of Registration are published on the CSO website, through the CSO PxStat, on the publication of this release, see link here.
NUTS2 and NUTS3 regions
The regional classifications in this release is based on the NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) classification used by Eurostat. Until Q4 2017, the NUTS3 regions corresponded to the eight Regional Authorities established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order, 1993, which came into operation on 1 January 1994 while the NUTS2 regions, which were proposed by Government and agreed by Eurostat in 1999, were groupings of those historic NUTS3 regions.
However, the NUTS3 boundaries were amended on 21 November 2016 under Regulation (EC) No. 2066/2016 and have come into force from Q1 2018. These new groupings are reflected in the LFS results from Q1 2018 onwards. The changes resulting from the amendment are that County Louth has moved from the Border to the Mid-East and what was formerly South Tipperary has moved from the South-East to the Mid-West, resulting in the new NUTS2 and NUTS3 regions:
Northern & Western NUTS2 Region | Southern NUTS2 Region | Eastern & Midland NUTS2 Region | |||
Border | Cavan | Mid-West | Clare | Dublin | Dublin City |
Donegal | Limerick | Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown | |||
Leitrim | Tipperary | Fingal | |||
Monaghan | South Dublin | ||||
Sligo | |||||
South-East | Carlow | Mid-East | Kildare | ||
West | Galway | Kilkenny | Meath | ||
Mayo | Waterford | Wicklow | |||
Roscommon | Wexford | Louth | |||
Midland | Laois | ||||
South-West | Cork | Longford | |||
Kerry | Offaly | ||||
Westmeath |
Live Register occupational data is sourced from information collected by the DSP 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.
Detailed tables relating to regional and scheme data are available on the CSO website through the CSO Main Data Dissemination Service, PxStat, to see these please click here.
The number of claimants on the Live Register who work on a casual and /or part-time basis is supplied by the DSP. 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 DSP is satisfied that they are not in full-time employment, are available for work and are looking for full-time employment.
Data in the nationality grouping table is sourced from information collected by the DSP on the nationality of claimants when they first sign on the Live Register.
For further information or assistance use the contact details below or e-mail labour@cso.ie
Scan the QR code below to view this release online or go to
http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/lr/liveregistermarch2021/