News & Events

Minister Bruton welcomes continuing fall in Live Register

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD today (Wednesday) welcomed the December 2014 Live Register figures published by the Central Statistics Office, showing a decline of 3,300 compared to the November figures.

7th January 2015

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD today (Wednesday) welcomed the December 2014 Live Register figures published by the Central Statistics Office, showing a decline of 3,300 compared to the November figures.

This represents 37 consecutive months of decrease in the live register, and means that the unemployment rate now stands at 10.6 per cent, down from a peak of 15.1% in February 2012.

As an indication of the levels of activity taking place in the jobs market, more than 140,000 people left the live register to go into employment over the last twelve months.

The figures also show that the live register has decreased in all eight regions of the country over the past 12 months.

From an economic point of view, every person who leaves the Live Register into employment saves the Exchequer approximately €20,000 per annum in reduced social welfare expenditure and increased tax revenue, and helps to create a reinforcing cycle of positive economic benefits.

Speaking today, following the publication of IDA annual results yesterday which showed that more than 27,000 extra people are now at work in IDA companies compared to 2011, Minister Bruton said:

"Job-creation is the Government's top priority. Every job created is a life changed, a family improved and a community enhanced. Also crucially, it is by job-creation and economic growth that we can put money back in people's pockets through tax cuts and improve public services that people rely on.


“The Action Plan for Jobs is working. Since it was launched, 80,000 additional people are at work. In recent days we have seen further good news, with strong Exchequer returns and IDA results for 2014. This has not happened by accident – it is by consistently pursuing our plan to improve competitiveness and provide new supports for job creation that this can take place. The Pathways to Work strategy driven by Joan Burton has been very effective at ensuring that people are taken off the live register to fill these extra jobs.

“Many people are not yet feeling the effects, and with unemployment still above 10% we have a long way to go. However today’s figures can give people further confidence that if we continue implementing our plan, we can continue to grow the economy, create jobs, reduce unemployment and ultimately create a better country for people to live in”.

Ends

For further information please contact:

Press Office, Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: 01-6312220 or press.office@djei.ie