On March 3rd 2023, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the Live Register figures for February 2023. There were 183,401 people on the Live Register, an increase of 20,153 people on the same month last year. Looking at the Register from a gender and age perspective: women account for 46% of the Live Register and young people account for 10.5%.
The number of people on the Live Register for less than one year increased by 33% to 122,701 people and of this figure: women account for 49% and young people 12.5%. 60,700 people were on the Register for more than a year: a decrease of 10,461 people in comparison to February 2022. 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 43.6% of the number of people on the Live Register, in February 2023 this percentage had dropped to 33%. Taking the impact of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment into account now only changes this figure slightly. As the CSO notes “Taking the duration time on the PUP into account sees the proportion of short-term recipients drop to 66.4% and the proportion of long-term recipients increase to 33.6%.”
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 January 2023 there were 36,745 participants: 2,538 fewer people than January 2022. The number of people participating on education and training programmes was 10,171, a decrease of 12% over the year. However, the numbers of people on the SOLAS Full-time Training for Unemployed People and the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) rose by 7.7% over the year to 6,568 participants. While the numbers of people receiving the Back to Education Allowance dropped by 34% to 3,603 in January 2023.
The number of people participating on employment programmes decreased by 4% to 26,574. Community Employment remains the largest programme with 18,603 participants in January 2023, a 3.3% decrease over the year. The next biggest employment programme is TÚS - Community Work Placement Initiative, with 4,843 participants, a decrease of 11% over the year. The third largest employment programme is the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme: with 2,307 participants, an annual increase of 1.7%.
Amongst the smaller schemes, the Work Placement Experience Programme (WPEP), which commenced in July 2021, has grown from 184 participants in January 2022 to 539 participants in January 2023. The Part-time Job Incentive Scheme (PTJIS) decreased by 60% over the year to 102 participants in January 2023, while the Short-term Enterprise Allowance dropped by 49% to 180 participants.