There’s been a marginal rise in the number of people on the live register in Clare.
According to the latest data from the CSO, there’s now 4,760 people claiming some form of unemployment benefit in this county, as of the end of January.
Nationally, figures have hit their lowest in 12 years.
Across the month of January, there was a rise of just 21 in the number of people claiming some form of unemployment benefit in Clare.
This means there are now 4,760 people on the live register in this county, a figure which, although is a marginal rise on last month, is a welcome drop of 285 on this time last year.
It was Ennis that saw the biggest rise in its figures this time around, with 39 more people entering dole queues in the county town, putting that total at 2,427.
This means Ennis accounts for around half of the total number of people claiming some form of unemployment benefit in Clare.
With 900 on the live register once again in North Clare, there was no change in that region across January, while West Clare figures dropped by 4 and those in East Clare rose by 14 in that time.
January also marks the fourth consecutive month of a rise in live register figures in Clare, though that is typical at the time of year, with the next two months tending to see figures go down once again.
The overall figure of 183,755 people signing on nationwide in January is also the lowest figure since 2008.
Ben Sweeney, Clare FM, first for local news.
