FOR THE FIRST time in six years, the number of people signing on the live register has fallen below 350,000 (just about).
The number fell by 1,800 in April, meaning 349,551 people are now receiving some jobseeking benefits.
The number of men signing on this month fell by 0.8%, while the number of women dropped by 0.1%.
The big picture? The number of long-term claimants has fallen from 178,225 to 158,488 – a reduction of 11.1% since this time last year.
Most of that was made up of men, the number of male long-term claimants dropped by 18,075 (14.9%), while females decreased by 1,662 (2.9%).
However, the standardised rate of unemployment remains unchanged at 10%.
The data shows that 14,769 young people under 25 have been on the Live Register for one year or more.
The deputy director of The National Youth Council of Ireland, James Doorley said,
While we welcome the reduction in young people signing on, we should all be concerned at the high number of long-term unemployed young people.
Doorley added, “Policy measures need to focus primarily on this group, to support them into a quality education, training or work experience that leads to sustainable and decent employment.”
The Minister for Business & Employment, Ged Nash, said, “We still have much work to do in order to ensure that every person who wants to work can work, but our goal of returning the country to full employment by 2018 is firmly within our sights.”
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