Live Register rose throughout Ireland

The number of people signing on the Live Register rose throughout all regions of Ireland in January, new data from the Central Statistics Office showed today.

The number of people signing on rose 3.1 per cent to 436,936 last month compared to 423,595 in

December. The fresh spike in unemployment was felt around the country, but the largest percentage increase was seen in the west, where the numbers signing on for job-seeker's benefit or allowances rose 4.1 per cent. Dublin saw the smallest increase, rising 2.4 per cent.

The unadjusted Live Register increased by 110,664, some 33.9 per cent. Over the year, Dublin was the hardest hit, rising 38.1 per cent, compared to the Border region’s 28.8 per cent increase.

The Live Register includes people who are working part-time, seasonal and casual workers who are entitled to job-seeker's benefit or allowances. According to the Quarterly National Household Survey, 279,800 people were unemployed in the period covering July to September 2009.

On a county basis, Kerry had the largest percentage increase with a 6.2 per cent rise, while Leitrim experienced the smallest at 1 per cent.

Recent figures from the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment revealed that 6,699 full-time employees lost their jobs in January, up 62 per cent on December 2009. This translates to about 319 job losses per working day.

The number of both men and women signing on rose in the month, with 291,648 men on the Live Register and 145,288 women.

Some 18.6 per cent of the Live Register are non-Irish nationals, a total of 81,395. The majority of these, 45,652, were from EU accession states, with 4,186 from the 15 EU states outside of the UK and Ireland.

In January, an additional 5 per cent, or 3,876, workers from outside Ireland signed on. Irish nationals on the register rose by 9,465, or 2.7 per cent, in the month to 355,541.

Bloxham economist Alan McQuaid said he was not expecting a major rise in the unemployment rate this year.

"In fact we still believe we are close to a peak, and we’re certainly not going to hit 17 per cent which was being forecast by some analysts last year," he said today.

"But, it does look like there will be a high level of unskilled workers permanently on the dole queues even when the Irish economy returns to positive growth. We don’t see the jobless rate returning to the 4 per cent level again unless major policy initiatives are taken to ‘up-skill’ a significant part of the workforce. Even when the economy returns to ‘normal’ we think the permanent jobless rate won’t drop below 7 to 8 per cent."