Unemployment up 71% in 12 months

The Live Register saw an unadjusted increase of 120,987 or 71% in the year to December 2008 - the biggest 12-month increase since records began in 1967.

It compares to an unadjusted increase of 106,864 or 66.1% in the year to November.

Economists expect the unemployment figures to deteriorate significantly in 2009 with the state training agency FÁS predicting that the rate of unemployment will exceed 12% over the course of the year.

ISME described the situation as catastrophic and said that the Government has utterly failed to indicate how it is going to address the problems of small and medium businesses.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0109/employment.html

Non-Irish seeking unemployment benefit up 80%

The number of foreign nationals applying for unemployment benefit has increased by almost 80 per cent over the past year, new figures show.

The increase has been felt most sharply by members of former EU accession states where numbers have jumped by some 144 per cent since September of last year.

Overall, a breakdown of live register figures for last month by the Central Statistics Office shows a total of 240,000 people were signing on last month, an increase of almost 50 per cent compared to the same period year.

Of this, the vast majority were Irish (83 per cent, or 199,000) and the remainder were foreign nationals (17 per cent, or 41,200). The CSO's figures - based on data supplied by the Department of Social and Family Affairs - do not provide a breakdown by nationality.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1003/breaking57.htm

FG: Pay jobless migrants to leave

IRELAND’S 40,000 jobless migrants should be paid to return to their countries of origin, Fine Gael has urged.

The party’s enterprise spokesman, Leo Varadkar, drew heavy fire after suggesting non-Irish people on the live register, whom he claimed cost the State in excess of €400 million a year, should be offered a voluntary repatriation scheme.

Mr Varadkar denied the idea was xenophobic, adding it had been pioneered by Spain’s socialist-led government.

http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=71589-qqqx=1.asp

Number of people signing on up by 10,000 in June

The number of people signing on the Live Register increased 10,000 in June bringing the total to 217,400, according to figures released by the CSO this morning.

The rate of increase in the numbers signing on for unemployment assistance over the last 12 months is the fastest since records began almost 50 years ago, with the the construction sector slowdown largely responsible. Earlier today concrete supplier Readymix said it had cut 15 per cent of its workforce.

On Wednesday the Goverment said it would have to find savings of €500 million to fund additional social welfare payments for the increase in thise unemployed due to the downturn.
This requirement and a projected €3 billion shortfall in tax revenues in the exchequer returns will force the Government to borrow three times more than it had planned this year.

At the end of June the number of people signing of for unemployment assistance had risen by almost a third or 54,400 to 217,400 compared the same month in 2007. This is the highest level since September 1998. The monthly increase was the second highest on record.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0704/breaking33.htm