The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Clare has dropped by over 1,000 in the past 12 months.
Figures released by the CSO reveal that there are now almost 4,650 people on the live register in this county, which is also a drop of over 200 in the space of a month.
Clare FM’s James Mulhall reports:
At the end of March, 4,646 people across Clare were on the live register and claiming some form of unemployment benefit -that’s an 18% drop in the space of a year.
In that period, it was East Clare that saw the biggest reduction in dole queues per capita.
There are now 587 people drawing the dole there, a drop of over a quarter since March 2018.
In Ennis, there was a 16% reduction to 2,410, while North Clare also saw a fall of around 16% to 846.
While experiencing the smallest drop in live register figures, West Clare still saw 132 people leaving the dole queues since March of 2018.
Meanwhile, the overall figure of 4,646 is also a welcome reduction of 200 on the numbers claiming benefits at the end of February.
James Mulhall, Clare FM, first for local news
