Live Register - February 2025
On 7th March, 2025, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the Live Register figures for February 2025. There were 165,500 people on the Live Register, a decrease of 8,675 people from the same month last year. Looking at the Register from a gender and age perspective: women account for 45% of the Live Register and young people, aged under 25 years, account for 11.4%.
Over the year, the number of people on the Live Register for less than one year decreased by 2.7% to 108,646 people and account for 65.6% of those on the Live Register. Women account for 46% and young people for 13.7% of this part of the register.
56,661 people were on the Live Register for more than a year, a decrease of 9% on February 2024. Looking at this part of the Register from a gender and age perspective: women account for 41.4% and young people 7%. Exploring the issue of duration further, 45.7% of the people on the Live Register for more than a year have been on it for at least three years.
Activation Programmes - January
In January 2025 there were 36,097 participants in activation programmes, a decrease of 1.8% since January 2024.
Education and Training
The number of people participating in education and training programmes was 14,888, a decrease of 8% over the year. The number of people participating in SOLAS Full-time Training for Unemployed People has seen a major decrease of 15% to 4,952 people. The number of people on the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) decreased by 23% to 1,473 participants; and the number of people receiving the Back to Education Allowance increased by 6.3% to 3,495 in January 2025.
Employment Programmes
The number of people participating in employment programmes decreased by 1.4% to 26,177. Community Employment remains the largest programme with 19,476 participants in January 2025 – 559 more participants than a year ago. The next biggest employment programme is TÚS - Community Work Placement Initiative, with 4,296 participants, a similar figure to January 2024. The third largest employment programme is the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme with 1,917 participants, a drop of 5% over the year.
The Work Placement Experience Programme (WPEP) increased from decreased from 180 participants in January 2024 to 165 participants in January 2025. The Part-time Job Incentive Scheme (PTJIS) fell by 14 over the year to 72 participants, while the Short-term Enterprise Allowance has stayed at similar levels, with 251 people participating in January 2025.