Rise in users of State-funded training

The number of long-term unemployed people availing of State-funded training programmes — such as Fás/Solas programmes and the recently discontinued JobBridge initiative — has recently increased, new CSO figures show, despite data in the past week indicating a further drop in the country’s unemployment rate.

Earlier this week, the CSO reported Ireland’s unemployment rate dipped from 7.3% in November to 7.2% in December, having been just under 9% 12 months earlier.

Yesterday, the office’s more detailed live register data showed a 3,300, or 1.2%, seasonally adjusted decrease in the number of people signing on for jobseekers’ allowance, last month.

According to the CSO, 282,400 people (a mix of unemployed, casual and part-time workers) were on the register in December.

The figures also showed a total of 71,829 people were availing of State-funded so-called activation programmes, which are aimed at people who have been out of work for more than a year and/or lone parents looking to retrain with a view to returning to the workforce, in November.

That figure is down by 11.6% — or 9,469 people — on the same month last year, when there were 81,298 people on such programmes.

However, user numbers have been steadily on the rise in recent months. November saw a monthly rise of 1,000 people, while as recently as August there were “only” 59,000 users in comparison.

That said, the overall December statistics show that the number of people on the live register is at its lowest since November 2008.

Separate CSO figures published yesterday showed strong growth for the country’s manufacturing industries, with industrial production rising 17.1% — on a monthly basis in November — and by just under 15% year-on-year.

Last week Investec Ireland published independent research showing the manufacturing sector also had a good December, with new business orders having fully recovered from the shock of June’s Brexit vote and expanding at their fastest pace since last January.

However, on the back of yesterday’s CSO figures, Alan McQuaid, chief economist with Merrion Stockbrokers, sounded a note of caution.

“Manufacturing output has been very strong the past couple of years, increasing by 24.2% on average in 2014 and 38.5% on average in 2015,” said Mr McQuaid.

“However, all the signs are that any rise in 2016 will be significantly lower, in low single digits.

“As regards 2017, output could again post a small single-digit rise, but the risk is that production will actually be lower than last year.”