Minister Doherty welcomes fall in numbers on Live Register

The figure for November 2018 is the lowest number recorded in the seasonally adjusted series since May 2008

Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, T.D., has welcomed the latest Live Register figures which were published today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). They show that the Live Register figure now stands at 196,261 people.

This represents a year on year decrease of 15.8% since November 2017, a decrease of 28.2% since November 2016 and a month-on-month fall of 1.5% compared with October 2018.

On a seasonally adjusted basis the Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 3,100 people (-1.5%) in November 2018, bringing the seasonally adjusted total to 207,200. The number of people on the seasonally adjusted Live Register in November 2018 is also the lowest number recorded since May 2008.

Minister Doherty commented:

“Today’s CSO report on the Live Register is a very positive and welcome one. Today’s figure represents the lowest number of people on the Live Register recorded since May 2008.

Three out of five people on the Live Register today are classified as short term claimants. With regard to long term claimants – people on the Live Register for one year or more – I am particularly pleased to see that there has been an overall annual decrease of just over 18% of long-term claimants on the register, reflecting the impressive recovery in the working environment.

Many of those who have left the Live Register and returned to work will have been helped to do so by the supports from my Department and the buoyant economy created by current government policies. My priority now is to deliver the necessary supports and innovations to guarantee that everyone has a fair chance to get work as more and more jobs become available.”

Note to editors:

The following are some examples of the assistance and support provided by the Department to jobseekers and employers:

The Youth Employment Support Scheme (YESS)

Minister Doherty launched the Department’s new YESS scheme on 24 September 2018. YESS is a new work experience scheme targeted exclusively at young jobseekers, aged 18 to 24, who are either long-term unemployed or face significant barriers to employment.

JobsIreland.ie

JobsIreland.ie is the Department’s national recruitment website. The service is administered by Department staff and provides a free online vacancy advertising and candidate matching service for employers who wish to advertise job vacancies, apprenticeships and community employment (CE) schemes. YESS vacancies can now also be advertised on JobsIreland.ie. The service is available to all employers irrespective of size or industry sector. To date in 2018, 77,441 positions have been advertised. For candidates JobsIreland.ie provides the opportunity to register and search for all the latest jobs in the market place. JobsIreland.ie lets candidates create an online CV and then notifies them automatically of vacancies that match their profile.

JobsPlus

JobsPlus, which was introduced in July 2013, provides a direct monthly financial incentive to employers who offer full-time employment opportunities to long-term unemployed people. The scheme was further enhanced from 1 January 2018 to support workers aged 50 or over. Almost 16,700 payments have been made through the scheme in 2017 and 2018 (to November).

Jobs Fairs

Additionally, the Department hosts numerous Jobs Fairs and events throughout the year, with our annual Jobs Week a particular focus. For Jobs Week 2017, the Department organised and hosted 100 events in every region, which brought 400 employers and 16,000 jobseekers together. Jobs Week 2018 saw 134 events, with 450 employers and 14,500 jobseekers attending. The Department also co-hosts a number of events with EURES, the European Recruitment Service – from the start of 2017 to date in 2018 there have been three on-site and five online EURES Jobs Fairs. The Department will continue to focus on working with employers throughout the country to ensure that jobseekers can avail of the many jobs that are being created every week by employers.

Community Employment and TÚS schemes

In addition the Department continues to provide valuable work experience for those who are long-term unemployed through the community employment and TUS schemes. These schemes also provide important local services in towns and villages throughout the country. At present there are approximately 28,000 participants on these schemes who are benefitting from work experience and training.

ENDS