Small decrease in Clare’s Live Register

CLARE saw a small decrease in the numbers signing on the Live Register in February.

The number fell from 10,883 in January to 10,814 last month. There were 6,864 males signing on in Clare, down from 6,903, and 10,814 females, down from 10,883.
The amount of males aged under 25 signing on went down from 1,208 to 1,175, while the amount of females under 25 signing on went from 681 to 678.
There was a small decrease in the number signing on at each of the social welfare offices in Ennis, Ennistymon, Kilrush and Tulla.
The number signing on in Clare in February was slightly higher than in the same month last year, when it stood at 10,865. It has more than doubled over the last four years, as the figure was 4,249 in February of 2007.
Dealing with the jobs crisis is going to be one of the biggest challenges for the new Government and Pat Breen said there will be some initiatives introduced before the end of the summer.
“The situation is quite serious as we all saw during the campaign. We will have a jobs programme within the next 100 days which will provide 15,000 placement, education and training opportunities. We will also be cutting the VAT rate from 13.5% to 12% by the end of 2013 and reversing the minimum wage cut. Other measures are providing additional resources for the national housing retrofit energy plan and the abolition of the travel tax.”
Mr Breen said that in the next few years, the Government plan to replace FÁS with a new agency. He also said that taking a person off the dole sees an average benefit to the State of about €20,000 per annum.
In the country as a whole, there were 444,299 people signing on in February, which shows an increase of 7,343 over the past year. However, on a seasonally adjusted basis, there was a decrease of 1,700 on the Live Register in the month to February 2011.