Live Register goes over 200,000

10 Jun 2008

Today the Central Statistics Office issued the Live Register figures for May 2008. The Seasonally Adjusted figure is up 47,700 on the same month last year: an increase of 30% to 207,300. The last time the figure was over 200,000 was March 1999.

"Looking at the figures what is striking is that the rise in the Live Register is almost split 50/50 between men and women," noted Bríd O'Brien, Senior Policy Officer, with the INOU, "Clearly the decline in employment has spread beyond the construction industry," she continued.

The CSO also released the 2007 report of their 'Measuring Ireland's Progress' series. In this report they note that Ireland has the sixth lowest unemployment rate in the EU - at less than two-thirds of the EU 27 average of 7.1% in 2007. However, looking at today's figures the Standardised Unemployment rate has risen to 5.4%, a figure not seen since July 1999. "The INOU is very concerned at the lack of official response to this increase in the Live Register," Bríd noted. At the organisation's recent Annual Delegate conference concerns were expressed about the realistic options facing unemployed people and others in receipt of welfare payments.

There has been an over reliance on certain sectors to generate employment and move the economy forward, in particular construction. As recent statistics have shown construction activity has slowed down considerably, yet there is no sense that officialdom is exploring alternative options for people who worked in this industry and others where redundancies are running high. In the recent Quarterly National Household Survey the increase in self-employment was noted. However, given an increasing number of welfare queries from people who were self-employed, the INOU is acutely aware that this is not a long-term solution for everyone.