Short-term claimants rise 70%

The number of short-term claimants on the Live Register rose by 70.7 per cent in the year to October, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The data shows that an additional 134,597 short-term claimants joined the register during the first ten months of 2009, equiavalent to 81.1 per cent of the total increase on the Live Register this year.

Almost 9 per cent of short-term calimants joined the register between the months of April and October, the figures show.

The statistics also reveal that the number of long-term claimants on the Live Register rose by 55.7 per cent in the year to October with 53 per cent of the increase occurring between April and October.

In October, 78.8 per cent of all claimants on the register were short term, down from 81.6 per cent in April.

From March to April, the number of short term male claimants rose by 1.1 per cent while the comparable increase for females increased 8.8 per cent. Over the same period, the number of long term male and female claimants grew by 25 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.

All age groups showed increases in long term claimants over the six month period. However, the largest increase was among the under 20 years age category, where the number of claimants rose 53 per cent. Those in the 45 to 54 age group showed the lowest percentage change with a 12 per cent rise in long term claimants.

For short-term claimants, the only age group to show a decrease in numbers from March to October was those under the age of 20 years while the largest percentage increase was among the 60 to 54 age category.