UNEMPLOYMENT SOARED again last month after the number of people joining the Live Register of unemployment benefit claimants in October swelled by a record amount.
The number claiming jobseekers' benefits rose by 15,800 to 260,300, its highest level since March 1997. The number of claimants is now 60 per cent higher than it was this time last year.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) now estimates that the unemployment rate has reached 6.7 per cent, up from 6.3 per cent in September.
In percentage terms, the month-on-month jump in claimants is the highest since January 1975. The data is made more ominous by the fact that the number of unemployment benefit claimants usually drops in October as third-level colleges reopen for their autumn semester.
Economists warned yesterday that the rapidly weakening labour market would get worse before it gets better.
"We have not yet reached the point at which that downward momentum slows," said Davy Research economist Rossa White, who said the bad jobs figures would have negative implications for retail sales.
More subdued consumer spending next year will drag the economy further into recession.
It is "only a matter of time" before the Live Register, which also includes part-time and casual workers who are entitled to jobseekers' benefits, breaks through the 300,000 mark, according to Bloxham economist Alan McQuaid.
More than 11,000 - about 70 per cent - of the total monthly increase in claimants in October were men, indicating that the male-dominated construction sector is still shedding jobs at a fast pace.
But the 4,800 rise in female claimants is the largest monthly rise in the year so far, noted Ulster Bank economist Lynsey Clemenger, indicating that the labour market's malaise has spread to the services sector.
Young people with limited work experience or those who were trying to join the workforce were being hardest hit by the turn in the jobs market, said Michael McDonnell, director of personnel managers institute CIPD.
The Government said the increase in unemployment was "regrettable but not surprising" given the downturn in the economy. In a statement, it said strenuous efforts were being made to identify job creation opportunities and provide re-skilling programmes for unemployed people.
"The department continues to monitor and review the conditionality and operation of the employment support schemes with a view to providing the best possible service to its customers and to targeting limited resources at those who are most in need," the statement said.
However, the Opposition has accused the Government of throwing in the towel on the issue.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said the Budget did not contain a single significant initiative to deal with unemployment except to make it more difficult to qualify for jobseekers' benefit and to restrict its payment, while Fine Gael spokesman Leo Varadkar said one person was losing their job every three minutes.
