Numbers on Live Register rose to 434,700 last month

The number of people on the Live Register rose by nearly 6,000 in January, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.

The seasonally adjusted total shows there were 434,700 people on the Live Register at the end of January. This represents an increase of 5,800 from December when 428,900 individuals were on the register.

On an unadjusted basis, the number of people claiming unemployment benefits rose by 13,341 to 436,936 during the month.

During the month of January an additional 2,400 men and 3,4000 women joined the Live Register.

The estimated number of causal and part-time workers on the Live Register in January was 73,630. This comprises of 39,322 males and 34,308 females.

The average net weekly increase in numbers of people who joined the Live Register last month was 1,160, compared to an average increase of 5,800 for the same month a year earlier.

Over the year to the end of January, the number of people on the Live Register rose by 33.8 per cent on an unadjusted bases. This is equivalent to 110,664 extra people and compares with a 46.1 per cent increase in the year to the end of December 2009.

The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment. It includes part-time workers - those who work up to three days a week - as well as seasonal and casual workers entitled to jobseeker's benefit or allowance.

The standardised unemployment rate in January was 12.7 as against 12.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2009.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen defended the Government's handling of the economy after he outlined the figures in the Dáil this morning.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said the figures, following on from the Exchequer returns yesterday, were "a litany of despair from a Government that has failed to have any plan or any strategy in place to deal with this situation".

Mr Kenny said there was a need for economic stimulus and an "injection of Government action here so that people all over the country will have some hope or some confidence that this Government is actually in control of the Irish economy".

Mr Cowen said the Fine Gael leader's "constant despair" was "not where the people are at at all". He said people recognised that the country was being led in the right direction and that the Government was taking the necessary steps. He said that of 70,000 people on the Live Register referred to national agencies such as Fás and Enterprise Ireland, some 50,000 people had been taken off the register.

Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said the Taoiseach "doesn't seem to get it".

"Ever since the budget, you can’t turn on the radio or television or open a newspaper but there is somebody from Fianna Fáil telling us that we’ve turned the corner and that recovery is about to happen.

"I wish that that were the case, but there’s very little sign of it. Yesterday’s Exchequer figures don’t show much signs of recovery, even though they were for the two months leading into Christmas when there should an improvement."

Mr Gilmore said some 319 people a day had lost their jobs since the start of the year. "None of those people will tell you that there is recovery.”

He said that since the budget, the Government had been “basking in the praise that it has been getting from some of the right-wing economists that are embedded with government but we are seeing no action on the jobs front”.

He said one out of every three young men in the country aged between 21 and 24 was now on the dole.

Mr Cowen said he "refuted" the claim that there had been no stimulus provided by Government and that it had, in fact provided €6.5 billion in its capital programme this year. Some €1.5 billion had been provided for roadworks and an extra €2 billion had been allocated for higher education.

“That’s the sort of investment that we’re putting in at a time when we had record high deficits of 11 per cent to contend with.”

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan described the live register figures as disappointing. "We have a situation where people who were working part-time at the Christmas period have now been let go," she said.

"Yes, we are disappointed but we are certainly working on how we can move people who are unemployed into employment," she said. The Government is focusing on supporting "vulnerable" people who worked in sectors such as construction, retail and low-end manufacturing through "activation measures" such as education and skills development, she said.

Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Bloxham Stockbrokers was downbeat about the latest figures.

"There is no doubt though, that the lower rates of monthly increase in the numbers signing on in recent months can be put down to increased emigration, more people than usual returning to education and Government schemes aimed at cutting the numbers on the Live Register," he said.

"However, there does not appear to be any indication that employers are actually hiring more staff. Indeed, it is hard to see job prospects getting better unless the banking system is stabilised, and money is flowing freely back into the economy again," he added.

Goodbody stockbrokers said the increase in numbers claiming unemployment benefits was not overly surpring given that something similar occurred in January last year with a spike in post Christmas layoffs.

Elsewhere, business group Isme called for the introduction of a jobs think tank to address the unemployment issue.