AN EXTRA 2,700 men and women signed onto the Live Register last month, bringing the overall, adjusted figure for June to 440,600.
According to data from the Central Statistics Office, that represents a decrease of 5,974 over the past 12 months, making the unadjusted total 451,974. The trend in the Live Register continues to be one of movement within a small range, the report noted.
The standardised unemployment rate (SUR) was 14.9 per cent, up 0.2 per cent from May 2012.
In the past year, the number of men on the register fell by almost 9,500 but the amount of women claiming jumped by nearly 3,500. There was also a decline of about 8,000 in the number of people under the age of 25 signing on. This is the 24th month-in-a-row where a drop in the number of youths signing on has been seen. The percentage of persons aged under 25 on the Live Register now stands at 17.5 per cent for June 2012, down from 19.0 per cent in June 2011 and 20.2 per cent in June 2010.
There were 199,249 long-term claimants on the Live Register in June, representing an annual increase of over 12,500.
The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment as it includes 88,465 part-time, seasonal and casual workers who are entitled to Jobseeker’s Benefit or Allowance. Unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey and the last estimate for the first quarter of 2012 showed a figure of 309,000.
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