Almost 480,000 people received the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) this week, at a cost of more than €144 million, new figures show.

The number of people receiving the PUP payment this week represents an increase of 4,269 (less than 1 per cent) on the 475,364 people paid last week, the Department of Social Protection said.

A further 189,860 people were on the Live Register at the end of December, meaning that more than 650,000 workers are receiving some kind of State support at present.

Hospital Report

Dublin is the county with the highest number of people who are receiving PUP this week at 148,617. It is followed by Cork with 49,184, and then Galway with 25,452.

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Counties Carlow, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Waterford and Westmeath have fewer numbers of people receiving PUP this week than last week.

The sector with the highest number of people receiving the payment this week is accommodation and food service activities (111,809). This is followed by wholesale and retail trade (76,367) and construction (62,534).

Construction is the sector that has seen the largest increase in the number of people receiving the unemployment payment this week, with an additional 1,375 people now receiving the support compared with last week.

The wholesale and retail sector has also seen the number of PUP recipients increase to 76,367, compared with 75,861 last week, while the manufacturing sector saw the number of recipients increase from 27,173 to 27,577.

About half of those receiving the payment are on the maximum rate of €350 per week.

Returning to work

The past seven days also saw people from every county close their claims in order to return to work.

Overall, some 10,606 people closed their PUP claim, with 7,330 of these stating that they were doing so because they are returning to work.

Dublin had the greatest number of people closing their claims to return to work (1,889), followed by Cork (835) and Kildare (361).

Since the beginning of January this year, some 23,127 people have closed their claims.

Construction was the sector which had the highest number of claim closures at 1,468, followed by wholesale and retail trade at 1,377 and manufacturing at 889.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said she was "pleased" that people were returning to work, despite Level 5 restrictions.

“The rate of new claims for the pandemic unemployment payment has decreased again this week. This demonstrates that the overall PUP numbers are starting to plateau again,” she said.

Ms Humphreys said while these are “positive signs”, it was important that we did not “drop our guard”.

“By working together and adhering to the public health advice, we can drive the virus numbers down much further throughout the month of February,” she said.

“I can assure people that the supports under the Department of Social Protection, such as the PUP and enhanced illness benefit, will continue to be made available to people impacted by the pandemic.”