Number of benefit claimants rose by 2,500 last month

THE NUMBER of unemployment benefit claimants rose by 2,500 in August on a seasonally adjusted basis. Some 455,000 people are now in receipt of benefits according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO). This the largest number ever recorded since the Live Register of claimants was first compiled in 1967.

The standardised unemployment rate, which is calculated separately, rose to 13.8 per cent last month, up from 13.7 per cent in July. It was 13.1 per cent at the start of the year. The rate of joblessness in August was the highest since mid-1994.

The Live Register figure for last month, when not seasonally adjusted, shows a rise in claimants of just 99. Hiring related to tourism is likely to have offset the increase in claimants from lay-offs in other sectors.

The CSO said that there were just over 36,000 new claimants on the Live Register in August, a sharp drop from 60,000 the previous month.

The average net weekly Live Register increase in August was 625, which compares with a weekly increase of 1,700 in July.

A breakdown of the figures by occupation indicates that the biggest increase last month was in professionals, with a 26.8 per cent rise in the number in that category joining the Live Register.

The next largest increases recorded were in the clerical and secretarial and sales categories, up 14.6 per cent and 11.9 per cent respectively.

There was an overall increase of 700 males and 1,900 females in the seasonally adjusted figures last month.

The largest percentage increase was in the midwest region, where those signing on rose 0.6 per cent. The southwest showed the largest percentage decrease, down 0.5 per cent.

The statistics show a 1.2 per cent decrease in short-term claimants last month while the number of long-term claimants rose by 2.7 per cent.

According to the figures, there were 144,940 Jobseeker’s Benefit claimants last month, a monthly decrease of 4,888. Applications for the means-tested Jobseeker’s Allowance rose by 4,413 over the month while other registrants increased by 574.

A total of 78,282 casual and part-time workers were on the register last month, equivalent to 16.8 per cent of all those officially recorded as being on it.

In the year to August 2010 the number of Irish nationals on the Live Register increased by 31,025 or 8.7 per cent, while the number of non-Irish nationals decreased by 827, or 1 per cent.

There were 388,066 Irish nationals and 78,857 non-Irish nationals on the register at the end of August.

The Live Register includes part-time workers, seasonal and casual workers entitled to Jobseeker’s Benefit or Allowance.