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Live Register Figures for March 2020

02 April 2020 - 11:34 am


March Live Register Figures Slider Image

On April 2nd, 2020 the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published the Live Register figures for March. These are the first set of figures to be published since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Ireland and measures were put in place to slow its spread and the negative impact on people’s health and well-being. Amongst the measures that have been introduced in March are the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, and the CSO report on the numbers of people on these payments in today’s release. 

On April 1st the CSO published an Information Note on how they will deal with the statistical challenges COVID-19 will throw up for them in terms of producing the Monthly Unemployment (MU) figures and the Live Register. They hope to report on the MU figures for March next week, they were due to release them on Tuesday March 31st. In their information note they say that “This release will contain the standard tables of unemployment rates and volumes, which are based on the official Live Register total.”

So in today’s Live Register release the Central Statistics Office are reporting on:

  • The Live Register Total;
  • The Seasonally adjusted Live Register Total;
  • Number of claimants of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment;
  • Number of claimants on the Revenue Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS);
  • Total of the Live Register plus claimants of the two foregoing COVID-19 related payments.

 

Table A2 does not include the seasonally adjusted Live Register total for March, which stood at 207,200, an increase for 24,400 on February, 2020.  The last time this figure was 200,000 or higher was in January, 2019. This table highlights the gender impact of this pandemic on employment: there are 21,327 more men than women on the Live Register, but there 11,175 more women on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP). 13% of people on the Live Register are aged under 25, but this rises to 25% on PUP.    

 

Table A2 Number of persons on the Live Register and number in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment1, and the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme1, March 2020

Category

Live Register

Pandemic Unemployment Payment

Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme

Live Register and COVID-19 Related Payments Total

Males

  Under 25 years of age

13,074

28,400

2,932

44,406

  25 years of age and over

100,194

107,531

9,540

217,265

Total

113,268

135,931

12,472

261,671

Females

  Under 25 years of age

10,323

36,657

6,281

53,261

  25 years of age and over

81,618

110,449

6,351

198,418

Total

91,941

147,106

12,632

251,679

All Persons

  Under 25 years of age

23,397

65,057

9,213

97,667

  25 years of age and over

181,812

217,980

15,891

415,683

Total

205,209

283,037

25,104

513,350

Source: Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and Revenue Commissioners

1 Not included in the Live Register

 

This pandemic is throwing up a range of challenges including what will happen when the health crisis is deemed as over or no longer requiring the lockdown measures currently in place. If the economy is slower to recover than many people are hoping for, a lot of people will be seeking to move from a Pandemic Unemployment Payment to a regular Jobseeker’s payment. And depending on the person’s circumstances they may find that they are not even entitled to the full main claim, which is €203, they may in fact be entitled to less. This will come as a great shock to people. The INOU has long highlighted the inadequacy of existing Jobseekers’ payments and the struggle people face in trying to manage on them.

 

And when employment starts to return it will be important to support not only those who have lost their jobs in this pandemic, but also people who were unemployed and distanced from the labour market. It will be important that strong efforts are made to address existing and emerging vulnerabilities in our labour market and secure access to decent employment for people. But there will be challenges facing employment and related services, many of whom are on hold at present, they will have existing work to catch up on and a new and potentially large group of people to engage with and support.

CLICK HERE to read the full CSO report