On July 2nd, 2020 the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the Live Register for June. There were 220,871 people on the Live Register in June 2020, an increase of 23,763 on the same month last year. 71,667 people were on the Register for more than a year, 5,525 fewer people than in June 2019.
The CSO notes that there were 438,933 people on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), a decrease of 104,231 on May, 2020. While there were 382,018 people on the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS), 69,634 fewer than May, 2020.
Looking at these figures from an age perspective, young people account for 13% of those on the Live Register, 22% of those on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, and 12.5% of those on the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS). While from a gender perspective, women account for 45% of the Live Register, 49% of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, and 41.5% of the TWSS.
In Table A1 in the Live Register release, information is provided on the numbers of people ‘availing of Activation Programmes’. These figures always lag a month behind, and so in May 2020 there were 59,125 participants, an increase of 13,905 on the same month last year. Over the year the numbers of people participating on employment programmes decreased by 10% to 30,031; while, the numbers of people participating on education and training programmes increased by 62% to 29,094 participants. The largest programme continues to be Community Employment, with 20,958 participants, though the SOLAS Full-time Training for Unemployed People is almost as big with 20,385 participants: the highest number recorded in the CSO’s data base, which runs from January 2007 to May 2020.