Live Register increase brings unemployment up to 14.4%

The number of people signing on the Live Register rose slightly last month, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said today.

The standardised unemployment rate rose by 0.1 per cent to 14.4 per cent in August as an additional 1,600 people signed on the Live Register.

Overall there were 469,713 people signing on the Live Register in August on an unadjusted basis, an increase of 2,790 or 0.6 per cent over the year.

It represents a slightly smaller increase than that recorded in July, of 3,460 or 0.7 per cent, and is significantly lower than the increase of 30,198 - or 6.9 per cent - seen in the same period last year.

The total number of people signing on to the Live Register in July was 470,284. Davy chief economist Conall Mac Coille said although the numbers on the Live Register fell slightly compared to the previous month, the decline was smaller than would normally be expected in August given previous seasonal movements, leading to the seasonally adjusted rise.

"However, in a recession, spare capacity within firms (reducing the need for increased summer hiring) means that past seasonal patterns are unlikely to be representative of current conditions," he said.

"We cannot infer any significant deterioration in labour market conditions from today's unemployment data."

The number of long-term claimants increased by 43,176 in the year to the end of last month, bringing to 40.8 per cent the proportion of claimants who have been on the Live Register for one year or more, up 9 per cent on August 2010.

On a seasonably adjusted basis, an additional 1,200 women and 400 men joined the Live Register in August.

So far this year the number of women claimants has risen by 3.5 per cent or 5,888 to 172,860, while the number of men fell by 1 per cent to 296,853.

The number of men and women on the Live Register increased by 9.5 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively in the same period last year.

“The figures again highlight the difficult task the government faces in addressing the severe unemployment problem,” said Bloxham chief economist Alan McQuaid.

“The latest Live Register figures were disappointing to say the least, with the jobless rate still on an upward trend. The Government is well aware that there is no easy fix to the unemployment problem, and things are unlikely to improve on the jobs front until the economy starts to grow again on a sustained basis.”

The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) said the figures were "a frightening reality" for the country.

"It is clear from these figures that Government responses to-date are inadequate to address the challenge of unemployment: piecemeal programmes with different rules and criteria leading to increased confusion on the ground will not get people back to work. A different approach is required," the organisation said.

"The INOU is calling on the Government to facilitate people to take up piecemeal and irregular work and to facilitate their immediate return to the register when such work ends. Our organisation believes that this would be a more effective activation measure as it would allow people maintain and develop their own labour market connections."

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association said the figures highlighted that the Government's Jobs Initiative was not working and that a more comprehensive and holistic approach was urgently required to eliminate dole queues.

Trade union Unite said the latest figures was a timely reminder to those who say that Ireland is coming out of the darkest days of the recession.

"The government must turn back from a policy of cuts and more cuts," said Unite regional secretary Jimmy Kelly. "It will only lead to less spending, higher unemployment and an accelerating spiral of decline."