The number of people claiming some form of unemployment benefit in Clare has dropped by over half in the past ten years.
Latest figures from the CSO have revealed that as of the end of February, there were just shy of 4,800 people in Clare on the live register.
This is a marginal rise of 30 since January.
According to the CSO, a total of 4,794 people were claiming some form of unemployment benefit in Clare as of the end of last month.
Though this does mark a slight rise on the January figure, it’s a 1.6% annual decrease, while it is a very welcome 55% drop on the peak of this time ten years ago.
Ennis continues to account for the majority of those figures, being the biggest population centre, with 2,468 on the live register in the county town last month.
This is a rise of 41 – but Ennis is the only part of the county to see an upward trend in unemployment figures.
In North Clare, there was a drop of two to 898; West Clare dropped by one and is now sitting on 841 while in East Clare, four people entered employment in January, leaving the number there at 587.
Meanwhile, the live register figures for March will be ones to watch, with every year for the past decade seeing a significant drop across that month.
