Jobless rate steady at 10%, latest live register figures show

Ireland's standardised unemployment rate remains at 10 per cent, the same figure as in March, according to new figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the live register recorded a total monthly decrease of 1,800 (-0.5 per cent), reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 349,500.

In unadjusted terms, there were 343,551 people signing on in April, which represents an annual decrease of just over 45,000 or 11.6 per cent.

The figures include a monthly decrease of 1,700 men (-0.8 per cent) and 100 women (- 0.1 per cent)

In broader terms, the number of male claimants decreased by 31,237 (13 per cent) to 208,304 in the year to April, while female claimants decreased by 13,771 (9.2 per cent) to 135,247.

The number of long term claimants, which now stands at 158,488, has dropped in the last 12 months by 19,737. There was a decline of 18,075 male long term claimants and 1,662 women.

There were 70,181 casual and apart time workers on the live register in April which represents 20.4 per cent of the total.

In the last 12 months, the number of these workers dropped by 8,184 (10.4 per cent).

Those aged 25 and over decreased by 33,617 (10.1 per cent) and those aged under 25 fell by 11,391 (19.9 per cent).

“Annual decreases in persons aged under 25 have occurred in all months since July 2010 while the number of persons aged 25 on the live register now stands at 13.3 per cent for April 2015, down from 14.7 per cent in April 2014 and 15.6 per cent in April 2013,” the CSO said.

Just over 27,250 new registrants were recorded in April, consisting of 12,732 for jobseekers’ benefit claims, 13,079 for jobseeker’s allowance and 1,443 “other” registrants.

“On average 3,308 male and 3,506 female new registrants joined the live register each week of the month,” said the CSO.

The largest drops were recorded in the Mid-West region (-13.8 per cent) followed by the Dublin region (-12.3 per cent) and then the South West (-11.9 per cent).