Number signing on increases by 50 per cent in 12 months

The number of people signing on the Live Register rose by nearly 50 per cent over the last year, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) this morning.

A total of 79,565 people have sought unemployment assistance over the last 12 months bringing the overall figure to 244,500. It is the highest total for the Live Register since December 1997 and represents a rise of 49.5 per cent since September 2007 on an unadjusted basis.

Job losses in construction and manufacturing saw the number of people claiming unemployment assistance rise by 9,400 last month.

The number of people on the Live Register has increased by 79,565 to 244,500 over the last year - a rise of 49.5 per cent. This is the highest total for the Live Register since December 1997.

Unemployment has increased to an estimated rate of 6.3 per cent. The last official measure, the Quarterly National Household Survey, put the unemployment rate at 5.1 per cent at the end of the second quarter.

The majority of those joining the register last month were males, with 5,800 signing on for benefits.

The Live Register includes part-time, seasonal and casual workers entitled to jobseekers' benefit or allowances and is not designed to measure unemployment.

Willie Penrose, Labour Party spokesperson on enterprise, said the September data gives some indication of the scale of job losses in the Irish economy.

"It is clear that unless urgent action is taken to reverse the trend in job losses, unemployment could become as serious a social and economic problem as it was in the 1980s," he said.

Lynsey Clemenger, economist with Ulster Bank, said the increase in unemployment benefit payments would place more strain on the public finances.

She said the fact that males constituted the majority of new claimants indicated construction-related job losses are continuing.

Further trouble was facing the sector she added as house completions were now expected to fall considerably below the 30,000 level previously forecast by the bank.

Clemenger said although the standardised unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent in September was the highest rate since October 1998, the Irish economy is "fundamentally sounder now" than in the early 1980s when the rate was in double digits.