This article is from page 4 of the 2012-07-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CLARE is the only county in Munster without State-sponsored third level education, but it hasn’t stopped more people than ever before in the county embracing the education system.
That’s just one of the findings to emerge from the latest bulletin report of the 2011 National Census of Population released by the Central Statistics Office in the past week.
According to the figures, there are more students in Clare than there are people out of work in a breakdown of the population of the county that are over 15 years of age.
The huge surge in the numbers of students over the age of 15 in the county is reflected in a figure of 10,044, a figure which represents a 27.3 per cent jump numbering over 2,100 since the 2006 census results.
This means that the jump in student numbers in Clare is now running ahead of the provincial and national average that stands at 14 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.
However, the census returns have revealed that the county is behind the national average when it comes to the biggest tools of modern education – technology.
All because the numbers able to access much-needed information online is lower than in other parts of the country. Three in five Clare homes have access to broadband, and even this represents a four-fold jump from 2006, it’s still five percent below the national average.
The unemployment figures for the county stand at 9,805, which is lower than the national average, while the figure for those who are classified as ‘looking after the home/family’ is 8,476.
The figures for those working in Clare in April 2011 are 45,606, with the numbers of retired people standing at 12, 530.
Of the working population the healthy state of the agriculture industry in Clare is reflected in the fact that there are 7,499 farmer in Clare – a figure which is broken down between 5,064 men and 2,435 women.