Numbers on ‘activation’ schemes for long-term welfare recipients up by 6,300

The number of people on activation programmes, who are not counted in calculating the State’s Live Register claimant count, rose last month to 80,576 from 74,274 in September.

However, the Central Statistics Office yesterday said the number of people using the programmes, which are designed to help the long-term unemployed and other welfare recipients, has fallen by 4,096 persons, or by 4.8%, from October 2014.

There were a total of 330,000 people on the seasonally-adjusted Live Register in October, and 316,586 people on the unadjusted register.