There have been mixed fortunes in different parts of Clare in terms of the Live Register over the past year.
Figures have remained steady overall in the last month, but new CSO figures show Clare’s coastal areas fared better last year.
At the end of 2020, there were 4,922 people on the live register in this county – an increase of around 4 percent on the same time last year.
The main jump has been in Ennis, where an additional 344 people were in the dole queues last month compared to the same time in 2019.
There were 645 signing on in East Clare, up by forty across the year.
However, the Ennistymon and Kilrush offices have seen a drop in the number of claimants in the past twelve months, with figures in the Ennistymon area falling by as much as 15 percent.
The live register numbers don’t take into account those availing of specialised COVID-19 supports, including the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.
That has jumped to more than seven thousand in Clare this week, meaning that more than twelve thousand people are now claiming some form of unemployment benefit in this county.
