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February 2021, Live Register Figures

08 March 2021 - 10:50 am


Live-Register-image

On March 5th, 2021 the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the Live Register figures for February, 2021. There were 186,702 people on the Live Register, an increase of 4,086 on the same month last year. Looking at the Register from a gender and age perspective: women account for 44% of the Live Register and young people account for 11%.

79,219 people were on the Register for more than a year, 12,348 more people than February, 2020. Men account for 60% of this figure, and women 40%. While 92% of those on the register for more than a year are aged 25 years and over. Looking at this figure in more detail, the age group with the highest number of people on the register for more than a year are those aged 35-44 years (21.5%), followed by people aged 45-54 (21%), and then people aged 25-34 years (20%).

In Table A3 to this release the CSO note that 165,930 people were in receipt of a payment, and 20,772 were not in February 2021: a year ago these figures were 164,547 and 18,069 respectively.

In Table A2 the CSO notes that there were 468,847 people were on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) in February, a decrease of 12,316 on January, 2021. Looking at these figures from an age perspective, young people aged under 25 years, account for 24% of PUP recipients. While from a gender perspective, women account for 45% of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment. 

In Table A1 information is provided on the numbers of people ‘availing of Activation Programmes’. These figures always lag a month behind. In January 2021, there were an 40,058 participants, 8,271 fewer people than the same month last year. The number of people participating on education and training programmes was 13,433, a decrease of 22% over the year. Over the year the numbers of people participating on employment programmes decreased by 14.5% to 26,625. Community Employment remains the biggest programme, with 19,429 participants. The only programme to increase over the year was the Part-time Job Incentive scheme. It is a small scheme with only 317 participants, but this represents a 74% increase on January 2020. In Budget 2021, the Department of Social Protection announced that “The Part-Time Job Incentive scheme to be made available to the self-employed who intend to resume their business but can only do so intermittently or on a limited/reduced basis when they leave the PUP.”

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