Number of people on live register falls 1.8%

Muireann Duffy

The number of people on the live register dropped by 1.8 per cent from September, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The seasonally adjusted live register figures showed there were 175,500 in October, down from 178,800 in September.

The unadjusted figure for October stood at 169,933, which was also down from September's figure of 175,150.

Of the non-adjusted figures, 54.6 per cent (92,735) were male and 45.4 per cent (77,198) were female. Just over two thirds (69 per cent) were Irish.

The 35-44 age cohort noted the highest level of claimants in October, with 40,060 people representing 23.6 per cent of the category.

Meath saw the largest increase in the number of people joining the live register last month, up 6.1 per cent, followed by Leitrim and Sligo, whose rates each jumped by 2.2 per cent.

The CSO also released figures detailing the breakdown in the amount of time people had been on the register, showing that, of last month's claimants, 62,658 had been on it for under three months, while 31,617 had been on it for three years and over.