UNEMPLOYMENT HAS RISEN by 0.1 percentage points in the past month according to the latest Live Register figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

According to the CSO’s latest report, the standardised unemployment rate in July was 14.3 per cent which is up from 14 .2 per cent in June with an increase of 1,500 in the seasonally adjusted number of people signing on the live register – with the total now at 447,900 people.

On this same basis there was an increase of 1,300 females signing on the live register as opposed to just 300 males.

Not taking in to account seasonal changes, unemployment rose by over 12,000 to 470,285 from June.

The CSO says that since May 2010, whilst there has been fluctuations the seasonally adjusted number of people on the register has been between 440,700 and 448,200 – indicating the overall trend has remained flat in this period.

However, the number of long-term unemployed has risen by 45,508 in the year to July. It means that 40.4 per cent of claimants on the Live Register have been there for a year or more, up nearly 10 per cent on the same period last year.

Average unemployment in the first quarter of 2011 was 14 per cent compared with the whole of 2010 where the average stood at 13.6 per cent.

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