Local Live Register up by 22% since onset of Covid

MALLOW SAW THE SHARPEST INCREASE, RISING BY ALMOST 27% SINCE FEBRUARY

THE latest set of monthly Live Register figures have revealed the extent to which the Covid-19 pandemic is still having an impact on the local and national labour market.

The figures for July released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) have shown the number of people signing the register across Cork has risen for the fifth consecutive month, following on from a decade of reductions.

The figures showed that as July drew to a close there were 18,083 signing the Live Register across County Cork, an increase of 3,240 (or 22.65%) on the figure for February just prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the figure is considerably below that of the highest total for the county of 47,818 recorded in July 2010, the fact that it has been gradually creeping up since March is a cause for concern, particularly in light of the challenges facing businesses as they face the obstacles placed in their way by the epidemic.

The trend has been mirrored across the north and mid- Cork regions, with a combined 22.3% in the number of people on the Live Register at the Mallow,

Fermoy, Newmarket and Macroom social welfares offices at the end of July when compared to February.

Mallow experienced the sharpest increase of the four offices between February and July, with its Live Register figure increasing by 26.9% from 984 to 1,249.

The July figure for Fermoy, which rose above the 1,000 mark during March for the first time in two-years, stood at 1,179, representing a 22.8% increase on the total of 960 recorded at the end of February.

Newmarket experienced a 19.8% increase over the fivemonth period from 626 at the end of February to 750 last month.

Of the four offices, Macroom experienced the smallest percentage increase, with the figure for February rising from 569 to 661 over the five-months, representing a 16.1% rise.

These figures are in turn a reflection of the overall upward national trend, with the CSO saying “the Covid-19 crisis continues to impact the labour market in July.”

The seasonally adjusted Live Register total for the country at the end of July stood at 226,700, representing a 44,200 (or 24.2%) increase on the February figure.

The CSO figures showed that at the end of July 274,578 people were in receipt of the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment, down from 428,933 the previous month.

Conversely 447,639 people were availing of the Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme, up by 55,303 on the June figure of 392,336.

The figures showed that a combined total of 922,696 people were either on the Live Register

It should be pointed out that the live register is not designed to measure unemployment. It includes part-time workers, those who work up to three days a week and seasonal and casual workers who are entitled to claim jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance.

The figures showed that a total of 1,140,579 were either on the Live Register in July or were benefiting under both Covid-19 related schemes.