On January 13th 2022, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the Live Register figures for December 2022. There were 184,642 people on the Live Register, an increase of 20,786 people on the same month last year. Looking at the Register from a gender and age perspective: women account for 46.5% of the Live Register and young people account for 10.2%.
The number of people on the Live Register for less than one year increased by 36% to 122,976 people and of this figure: women account for 49% and young people 12%. 61,666 people were on the Register for more than a year: a decrease of 11,713 people in comparison to December 2021. Looking at this part of the Register from a gender and age perspective: women account for 42% and young people 6.4%.
A year ago, people on the Register for more than one year accounted for 45% of the number of people on the Live Register, in December 2022 this percentage had dropped to 33%. However, the CSO notes that “Taking the duration time on the PUP into account sees the proportion of short-term recipients drop to 64.8% and the proportion of long-term recipients increase to 35.2%.”
In Table A1 information is provided on the number of people ‘availing of Activation Programmes’. These figures always lag a month behind, and so in November 2022 there were 37,265 participants: 2,757 fewer people than November 2021. The number of people participating on education and training programmes was 10,536, a decrease of 15% over the year. The numbers of people on Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) rose by 3.6% over the year to 1,792 participants. While the numbers of people receiving the Back to Education Allowance dropped by 35% to 3,573 in November 2022.
The number of people participating on employment programmes decreased by 3% to 26,729. Community Employment remains the largest programme with 18,565 participants in November 2022, a 3.2% decrease over the year. The next biggest employment programme is TÚS - Community Work Placement Initiative, with 4,927 participants, a decrease of 8.1% over the year. The third largest employment programme is the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme: with 2,340 participants, an annual increase of 0.6%.
Amongst the smaller schemes, the Work Placement Experience Programme (WPEP), which commenced in July 2021, has grown from 161 participants in November 2021 to 498 participants in November 2022. The biggest decrease in employment programmes was in the Part-time Job Incentive Scheme (PTJIS), which fell by 62% over the year to 109 participants in November 2022. The PTJIS facilitates people who are long unemployed to take up part-time employment, less than 24 hours per week, and receive a weekly income supplement of €139.40 for a single person and €227.30 for a couple.