Jobless figures rise by 5,200 in October

The Central Statistics Office has revealed that the live register increased by 5,200 last month.

The actual increase was 1,258 but when seasonally adjusted, the figures show a stark rise in the number of Irish people claiming social welfare supports.

The CSO said October’s figures represent the first year-on-year increase since September 1996.

146,600 people are now officially on the live register but these figures do not reflect the 1,200 job losses yesterday and the expected 2,000 job losses at Aer Lingus in the coming months.

The IDA has also warned that further job losses can be expected in foreign multinational companies based in Ireland.

The Tanaiste, Mary Harney, has insisted that the economy is still sound, despite thousands of job losses in recent months.

Since the summer, the Government has avoided using the word ‘recession’, preferring instead to euphemistically describe the situation as an ‘economic slowdown’.

Ms Harney, who is also Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister, blamed yesterday’s job losses on the fallout from the September 11 attack in the United States and said Ireland is not immune to events that affect the global economy.

Nearly 700 workers were laid off ‘temporarily’ at Tara Mines in Co Meath because of the low price of zinc on the world market.

Another 230 jobs were lost following the closure of the AFL car component factory in Dundalk, Co Louth, while 100 employees were let go by Braun factory in Carlow.

Another 75 jobs were also lost because of the closure of the Dublin-based Tusa in-store banking service.

All these lay-offs follow thousands of cut-backs in the IT sector, the closure of several textile factories in the north and north-west and the impending loss of more than 2,000 jobs at Aer Lingus.