On September 6th, 2024, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the Live Register figures for August 2024. There were 177,868 people on the Live Register, a decrease of 8,249 people on the same month last year. Looking at the Register from a gender and age perspective: women account for 47% of the Live Register and young people, aged under 25 years, account for 12%.
Over the year, the number of people on the Live Register for less than one year decreased by 3.7% to 115,656 people or 65% of those on the Live Register. Women account for 48% and young people for 15% of this part of the register. 62,212 people were on the Live Register for more than a year, a decrease of 6% on August 2023. Looking at this part of the Register from a gender and age perspective: women account for 44% and young people 7%. Exploring the issue of duration further, 45% of the people on the Live Register for more than a year have been on it for at least three years. Women account for 40% of this group and young people 3%.
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 July 2024 there were 32,666 participants, an increase of 2.2% over the year. The number of people participating on education and training programmes was 5,499, a slight increase over the year. The number of people participating on the SOLAS Full-time Training for Unemployed People increased by 5% to 4,422. The number of people on the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) decreased by 7% to 953 participants; and the number of people receiving the Back to Education Allowance dropped by 15.5% to 124 in July 2024.
The number of people participating on employment programmes increased by 2.6% to 27,167. Community Employment remains the largest programme with 19,247 participants in July 2024 – 499 more participants than a year ago. The next biggest employment programme is TÚS - Community Work Placement Initiative, with 4,505 participants, a slight decrease over the year. The third largest employment programme is the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme with 1,933 participants, a drop of 9.5% over the year. The Work Placement Experience Programme (WPEP) increased from 765 participants in July 2023 to 1,151 participants in July 2024. The Part-time Job Incentive Scheme (PTJIS) fell by 28% over the year to 59 participants, while the Short-term Enterprise Allowance increased by 26% to 272 participants.