Live Register total drops by 1,700 amid low unemployment

About 1,700 people came off the Live Register in February, bringing the number in receipt of State job supports down to 182,500 on a seasonally-adjusted basis.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that the Live Register fell 0.9 per cent last month compared to January, pointing to an ongoing labour market squeeze.

Although the Live Register is not a measure of unemployment, as people with part-time work may be entitled to benefits, it does broadly track changes in the labour market. The drop in claimants last month comes despite a number of high-profile redundancy announcements in the technology sector.

Separate figures published by the CSO on Wednesday showed that the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 per cent in February, down from 4.4 per cent the previous month, remaining close to its 21-year low of 4.2 per cent.

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People arriving in the State from Ukraine under the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) are counted on the Live Register if they receive jobseeker’s allowance for 20 claim paid days or more. In February there were 23,176 people benefiting from the EU’s TPD included in the Live Register figures.

Over the year to the end of February 2023, some 20,153 people have joined the unadjusted register, with all counties in the State seeing an increase over this time. The counties that saw the largest percentage increase over this period were Kerry, followed by Leitrim and Clare. The counties with the lowest increase were Kildare and Tipperary.

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The number of people on the Live Register who are in long-term receipt of benefits – defined as a period of a year or more – is 60,700, down 10,461 from a year earlier.

On an unadjusted basis, the Live Register total stood at 183,401 people in February. Of this number 53.5 per cent were male and 69.6 per cent were Irish, similar to figures seen in recent months.

The 35-55 age group makes up the largest number of people on the Live Register, accounting for 43,473 or 23.7 per cent of the total.