Live Register up 33.4%

4 Jul 2008

The dramatic increase in the Live Register continued today with a monthly increase of 10,100 but an annual increase of 54,400. This increase means the Register is 33.4% higher than it was this time last year. As a consequence of this the Standardised Unemployment Rate is 5.7%. At this rate of increase the INOU expects to see the Live Register well over 230,000, which would give an unemployment rate of 6.1%.

On Wednesday the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment announced the redundancy figures, which showed an increase 29.9% on the January-June figures from 2007. Given the gender breakdown in the Live Register increase it is not surprising to see 'building and civil engineering' accounting for 26.2% of the increase in redundancies. 66% of today's monthly increase in the Live Register was male, however the annual increase was 77%.

"A major challenge facing the State is into what alternative employment do guys trained for the construction industry go" note Bríd O'Brien, Senior Policy Officer with the INOU. Next week Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan T.D. will announce where cutbacks, or what he is calling 'savings', within public expenditures will occur. It is imperative that these cutbacks do not affect social welfare recipients as many people are struggling with the increased living costs at present. "It is also critically important that the State meets its National Development Plan (NDP) commitments with regard to human capital and social inclusion investments," continued Bríd, "otherwise there is a real danger that those coming onto the live register now will become long-term unemployed."