The number of people on Clare’s Live Register has jumped by a third in the past year alone.
More than 5,300 people in this county received some form of unemployment benefit last month.
Data from the Central Statistics Office shows 5,317 people across the county received some form of unemployment benefit in December.
That’s a jump of more than 1,300 people in the last twelve months alone, and is the highest December figure since 2017.
Around half of those who signed on last month did so in Ennis.
More than 1,300 people joined the dole queues in Ennistymon, over 800 did so in Kilrush and a further 622 people claimed in Tulla.
Around 1 in 10 of those who claimed a form of unemployment benefit in Clare in December were under the age of 25.
The national Live Register numbers have gone up by just over 12 percent in the last year, meaning Clare’s figures have increased at nearly three times the national average.
