The number of people on the Live Register in January was at its lowest level since the height of the crash.
According to the latest seasonally adjusted figures from the Central Statistics Office, there was a monthly decrease of 3,000 people, or 1.2 per cent, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 238,400. That represents the lowest level since August 2008.
The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment however, as it includes part-time workers, seasonal and casual workers entitled to jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance.
In unadjusted terms, there were 237,386 people signing on the Live Register, which represents an annual decrease of 39,506, or 14.3 per cent.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, there was a monthly decrease of 1,900 men, which represents 1.4 per cent. Some 1,100 women came off the register, which represents 1.1 per cent.
There were 50,231 casual and part-time workers on the register, which represents 21.2 per cent of the total. This compares with 21.5 per cent one year earlier, when there were 59,480 casual and part-time workers on it.
In the year to January 2018, the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 9,249, or 15.5 per cent, with the number of men decreasing by 5,335, or 17.3 per cent, and the number of women decreasing by 3,914, or 13.7 per cent.
