Live register figures in Clare jumped by nearly 5% last month.
An additional 259 people joined the dole queues here in November.
There are now just over 5,700 people signing on the live register here in Clare, up from 5,445 in October.
Rises in November are not unusual, and last year there was a jump of 170 at the same time, but there’s no obvious explanation for this spike.
However, as the figures are not seasonally adjusted, and because the biggest growth in the joblessness indicator is centred on West and North Clare, it could simply be linked with the end of the tourism season.
154 additional people signed on in North Clare, along with 83 more in the West of the county.
There was also a rise in Ennis – up 24 – and a marginal fall of 2 in areas associated with the Tulla social Welfare office.
There are currently 750 fewer people in Clare claiming some form of unemployment benefit than at the same time last year.
