This article is from page 2 of the 2008-10-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
THE number of people signing on the live register in Clare is up by al- most half on the same time last year, the latest shock figures have shown.
The latest Central Statistics Office figures show that numbers signing on are up by 1,940, bringing the unem- ployment total from 4,074 last Sep- tember to 6,014 this September.
The confirmation of the jobs crisis emerged as staff at Aer Lingus in Shannon were living under threat of 300 further jobs being axed.
No area of the county escaped the slump. Unemployment in Ennis was
up by 43.7 per cent with an additional 1,069 people signing on. In Ennisty- mon an extra 317 people have signed on since last year, bringing the job- less total there to 906 while in Kil- rush, 226 extra people are now on dole payments, bringing the unem- ployment figure for the area to 799. Tulla has seen the largest percentage unemployment increase, at 70.7 per cent and extra 328 unemployed mak- ing a total of 792 people without jobs and signing on.
The latest figures for Clare were re- leased as the latest quarterly ESRI re- port yesterday predicted that 14,000 jobs will have gone by the end of this
year and next year will see the loss of 33,000 more. “The rate of unem- ployment is expected to average 6.1 percent in 2008 and to jump further in 2009, averaging 8 percent. The net migratory outflow in 2009 is now expected to be 30,000,” the report predicts.
Fine Gael TD Pat Breen, comment- ing on the release of the CSO Live Register Figures for 2008, said that the rate of increase in the Under 25 Category is particularly worrying with a 65.1 per cent increase over the same 12-month period.
“Every year, the September Live Register figures reflect the fact than
students and others return to full- time education so we must look at the latest figures is this context. How- ever, when we compare September 2007 to September 2008 the figures tell a very different story. What is particularly worrying is the number of under 25s on the Live Register for that same 12-month period. 65.1% increase from 762 in September 2007 to 1,258 this month.’
“T am now calling on the Govern- ment to show the same urgency in dealing with this crisis as they have shown in dealing with the bank- ing crisis over the past few days’, he Cr HLee