Decrease in foreign nationals on live register

THE NUMBER of foreign nationals on the live register of unemployment benefit claimants fell 2.3 per cent last month, indicating that the subdued state of the jobs market is forcing foreign nationals to leave the State.

A breakdown of live register data published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) suggests that migration trends may have influenced the better-than-expected data on the number of people claiming jobseekers’ benefit or assistance payments in September.

Figures released on Wednesday showed that the unemployment rate had held steady at 12.6 per cent last month, after the number of claimants on the live register fell by 16,417.

However, the number of claimants traditionally falls in September as schools and colleges reopen, while economists and Opposition politicians also attributed the fall to a rise in emigration.

The CSO figures show that there was a monthly decrease of 14,594 Irish nationals and a decrease of 1,823 foreign nationals on the live register last month, leaving the number of claimants at 423,639. This number includes some part-time and casual workers who are entitled to payments.

The number of people claiming benefits fell across all regions. The Border region recorded the largest percentage fall, with claimants dropping by 4.8 per cent. The smallest decrease was in the greater Dublin area, where claimants fell 2.9 per cent.

On a Statewide basis, the biggest percentage drop for last month was in Mayo (-6.9 per cent), while the smallest percentage decrease was in Laois (-2.3 per cent). In Dublin, the social welfare offices at Tallaght and Clondalkin headed the statistics, with more than 9,600 claimants in each case last month.

Separate figures released yesterday by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment showed that there were 6,021 redundancies in September under the Department’s redundancy scheme. This was 50 per cent higher than the number of redundancies recorded in September 2008.

There have been 60,785 redundancies in the first nine months of the year, up 122 per cent on the same period last year.

Patricia Callan, director of the Small Firms Association, called on the Government to extend its work-placement scheme to companies who employ fewer than 10 people and have made someone redundant within the last six months. These companies are currently ineligible from the scheme.

Alan McQuaid, an economist at stockbrokers Bloxham, said that based on the September live register numbers, the jobless rate would average at 11.8 per cent for 2009 as a whole, compared to 6.3 per cent in 2008 and 4.6 per cent in 2007.

“Although the unemployment rate may break through the 13 per cent level in 2010,” he added, “it is now likely to peak in and around the 13.5 per cent mark, which is a significantly better outcome than was envisaged a few months ago.”