Number on live register fell by 2,300 in February

THE NUMBER of people on the live register fell by 2,300 to 432,400 last month on a seasonally-adjusted basis, reversing a four-month trend which had seen a steady increase in the number of people claiming unemployment benefit since October.

Annual comparisons also suggest that the rapid increase in the numbers joining the live register since the onset of the economic downturn may be stabilising somewhat.

While the annual picture remains grim – there were 84,503 more people on the live register in February 2010 compared to February 2009, an increase of 24 per cent – this represents a marked improvement on the yearly increase of 110,664, or 33.9 per cent, registered in the year to January 2010.

The standardised unemployment rate in February was 12.6 per cent, down from 12.7 per cent in January, according to CSO estimates.

Bloxham chief economist Alan McQuaid said that while the fall in the number signing on was “good news”, it was predominantly due to increased emigration, more people returning to education and Government schemes aimed at cutting the numbers on the live register.

“There does not appear to be any indication that employers are actually hiring more staff,” he said. Although further job losses were likely in the first half of this year, particularly in the retail and financial services sectors, he did not expect a major rise in the unemployment rate in 2010.

“We’re certainly not going to hit 17 per cent which was being forecast by some analysts at this point last year. That said, it does look like there will be a high level of unskilled workers permanently on the dole queues even when the Irish economy returns to positive growth.”

Taoiseach Brian Cowen said in the Dáil yesterday that the figures “confirm that the situation is stabilising”, a claim that was strongly refuted by the Opposition.

Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar said the apparent stability in the live register was due to unemployed people leaving the country.

Labour’s Willie Penrose said that one-third of the labour force between the age of 20 and 24 was now unemployed.

The assistant director of the Small Firms Association, Avine McNally, said yesterday’s figures were “worrying” and “a damning indictment of the absence of government policy in this area”.

Ms McNally said the ability of businesses to create new jobs has been severely damaged by a loss of competitiveness in recent years. She called on the Government to reduce energy costs, decrease commercial rates and postpone the introduction of a carbon tax.

“In the absence of reductions in these costs, small businesses will have no option but to further reduce the costs that are within their control and this will inevitably mean a further loss of jobs.”

5,693 Redundancies February Figure Down 15% From Previous Month

A FURTHER insight into the state of the employment market was provided by redundancy figures released by the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment yesterday.

A total of 5,693 redundancies were notified to the department last month. This represents a 15 per cent drop from the figure of 6,678 recorded in January – a seven-month high.

The data, which is released by the department on a monthly basis, refers to the redundancies notified to the department under the redundancy scheme.

Yesterday’s figures show that 12,371 redundancies were registered in the first two months of the year.

A breakdown of the figures show the number of redundancies in the banking, finance and insurance sector almost tripled in February, rising to 678 from 237 in the first month of the year.

Conversely, the number of redundancies in the manufacturing, metal manufacturing and engineering sectors almost halved.

They fell to 987 in February, compared to 1,934 the previous month.

Mark Fielding of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises association said the figures were “worrying” and that a “national employment emergency plan” was urgently required.