The Mayor of Ennis has described a jump in Live Register figures in the first half of this year as extremely concerning.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show more than 5,700 people in Clare were claiming unemployment benefit at the end of June, outside of the more than 10,800 availing the pandemic unemployment support.
The county town saw the largest increase in numbers since the beginning of the pandemic.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show 5,720 people were on the live register in Clare at the end of June, the highest level seen here since February of 2018.
But this only highlights part of the economic storm caused by COVID-19, as it doesn’t take into account another 10,800 people here who are also out of work, but are availing of the pandemic unemployment support.
Across the county, numbers were up by over 900 since February, which amounts to an increase of 19%.
In East Clare, live register numbers were up by more than 16%, while there were jumps of almost 12% and just shy of 10% in West and North Clare respectively.
Bríd O’Brien from the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed expects the numbers to keep rising.
Ennis saw the largest jump of any area in Clare, with live register numbers increasing by over a quarter since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to over 3,096.
Mayor of Ennis, Councillor Paul Murphy has described the numbers as extremely concerning.
