88,000 on state training courses

The number of people on Government-funded ‘activation’ training courses has risen to 88,398, official figures show. 

The CSO said the number had risen in April by 2,809 from the 85,589 people participating on the programmes last year — the most recent month for which figures are available.

The programmes are primarily targeted at helping people who have been unemployed for over a year and to assist lone parents to sharpen their skills to find a job, but do not count in the official Live Register figures.