Cork live register at lowest level for more than a decade

FIGURES released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) have shown that the number of people on the live register in Cork was at its lowest November level for more than a decade.

The latest report has shown that the total number of people ‘signing on’ the register at social welfare offices across the county at the close of last month stood at 16,749 – the first time that the figure has dropped below the 20,000 mark since November 2007, when the total stood at 15,846.

However, the following year, that total had leapt to 25,282, a reflection of the seismic changes experienced in employment levels and across the wider Irish economy following the collapse of the co-called ‘Celtic Tiger’.

Over the ensuing years the November totals continued on their upward spiral, peaking at 43,562 in 2010. The following year that total had dropped slightly to 43,298, a trend that saw the monthly totals steadily decrease with each year since.

Over recent years the annual decline has become more marked, with the figure for last month down by more than 4,000 when compared to the total recorded 12 months earlier.

The steady fall in the live register has been reflected across the north and mid- Cork regions, with the combined November 2018 for the social welfare offices in Mallow, Fermoy, Newmarket and Macroom standing at 3,462.

This was the first time that the combined totals for the four offices had dipped below the 5,000 mark since 2008, when the figure stood at 4,924.

Within 12 months that figure had jumped by a whopping 3,660 to 8,584 and continued to rise, peaking in 2010 at 9,131.

Since then, as with the Cork County figure, that number has continued to drop, albeit slowly over the first couple of years, with more dramatic annual reductions since 2014.

As of the end of November the Mallow live register total stood at 1,111, Fermoy at 963 (the first time it has dropped below the 1,000 mark since 2006), Macroom 723 and Newmarket 665.

This represents an overall reduction across the four office of 163 per cent for the peak figure in 2010.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the live register at the close of November stood at 196,261, a drop of 26,948 when compared to the same period in 2017.

This represented the lowest national figure recorded by the CSO since May 2008.