Little change on Live Register

There were 435,200 people signing on in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, which was down 400 from the previous month though the overall rate of 14.8% remained unchanged from August.

On an unadjusted basis there were 429,335 people signing on in September, down 1.9% compared with the levels of a year ago.

However, the long-term unemployment rate continues to edge upwards.

In September, there was a 5.1% increase in the long-term unemployed to 192,778. Shorter-term claimants fell from 58.1% of the overall total in Sept 2011 to 55.1% last month.

“The bottom line is that the labour market remains very weak. That said, there have been positive job announcements on the foreign-direct investment side in recent weeks, which provide some grounds for optimism, but it’s a long road forward,” says Merrion Stockbroker economist Alan McQuaid.

There were 85,090 casual and part-time workers on the live register in September — 19.8% of the overall rate, but down marginally from Sept 2011.

There was a slightimprovement on the under-25 age group signing on, which now stands at 17.2% compared with 18.5% a year ago. Irish nationals comprised 82.7% of the live register. EU and UK citizens made up the largest portion of non-nationals signing on.

“At the end of the day there is no easy fix to the unemployment problem, and things are unlikely to improve on the jobs front until the economy starts to grow again on a sustained basis,” Mr McQuaid said.

“All in all, I think it is going to be a very slow process as regards tackling the huge unemployment problem, and it will be a number of years before the jobless rate falls back into single digits.

“The average unemployment rate in 2011 was 14.4% and is expected to be higher this year at 14.8%,” Mr McQuaid added.