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OVER ONE MILLION people received income support from the State in June, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.
A total of 438,933 people were in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) last month, down from 543,164 in May.
A further 382,018 people were in receipt of the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) in June, down from 451,652 the previous month.
A total of 1,002,470 people were either on the Live Register or received the PUP or the TWSS last month.
The CSO noted that this number is not the total of the three schemes, as there is some overlap between them due to the different frequency of the payments, and the fact that some people who are included on the live register but not receiving a payment might be in receipt of of one of the other schemes.
Gender and age breakdown
Of the 438,933 people in receipt of the PUP for the last week of June, 225,095 (51.3%) were men and 213,838 (48.7%) were women; 96,023 (21.9%) were under 25 years of age, while 342,910 (78.1%) were 25 years or older.
Of the 382,018 people in receipt of the TWSS at the end of last month, 223,399 (58.5%) were men and 158,619 (41.5%) were women; 47,838 (12.5%) were under 25 years, while 334,180 (87.5%) were 25 or older.
Speaking about the findings, Catalina Gonzalez, a statistician at the CSO, noted that the emergency unemployment payments introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic are “not captured in the traditional methodology of the Live Register” as this relates to the number of claimants in receipt of Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Assistance.
“Furthermore, Covid-19 payments are currently viewed as short-term in nature, with an expectation that those in receipt of such payments may return to work or may subsequently be considered for Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Assistance.”
The unadjusted Live Register total for June 2020 is 220,871 people.
“When seasonal effects are taken into account, the seasonally adjusted Live Register total for June 2020 was 213,700 which was a decrease of 14,200 from May 2020,” Gonzalez said.
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There was full employment before Covid-19 so Leo and team have a great track record in getting unemployment down. Going to take a bit of time though as long as Covid-19 is still around.
@Fionn Darland: invent new schemes to take them off the register while paying them the same rate as social welfare?
@Fionn Darland: Leo and team were riding the crest of an economic wave that was a natural rebound following the financial crisis, which was coupled with enormous monetary measures and quantitative easing from the ECB, plus the Trump tax reforms led to bloated exchequer receipts once US multinationals started to book profits in Ireland to exploit the new dividend tax deduction rules in the US tax code.
Very little of this has to do with Leo and team – it’s 90% external factors.
@Fintan O’flaois: Correct. It always amazes me that people actually think the politicians sort out employment rates!
@Fionn Darland: don’t know.if you’ve heard but there’s a new goverment now. Leo and his avengers have been reasigned
@Fionn Darland:
There was full employment before Covid-19, where exactly , apart from Dublin?
@Fionn Darland: there was not full employment !
@Pat Kelly: Yes there was full employment. It 4.8% in February 2020. Anything under 5% is considered full employment as there will always be some people ‘between jobs’. Anyone who seriously wanted to work in Feb could have found paid work.
@Fionn Darland: So when I pay my mortgage next time I’ll leave them 5% short and its considered as full payment, I think your statistic is nothing more than a political opinion, and we still have people on long term unemployment benefits. Fact the country has not recovered since the financial collapse.
@conriel: troll
@conriel: you obviously don’t understand economics … under 5% unemployed is considered full employment. This 5% includes those all those who cannot work for whatever reason … not just those who lost their jobs for economic reasons
Once the wage subsidy is reduced and PUP stops I can only imagine the live register
@Murr Paul: And we need to compare ours to Sweden…..because when the dust settles there controlled lockdown will have saved countless jobs…..our draconian version basically wiped out half the countries jobs…..
@Peter Hughes: When the dust settles in Sweden, it will be on a lot of unnecessary graves. I have worked in Swedish hospitals, and think very highly of the country and its health system. However, it failed miserably with Coronavirus. Very disappointing.
C’mon now Leo. Show us how great you think you are.
@Ed: superhero ledgebag
Too much to go back to work
Wow…. one in five
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