03/06/2010

May Unemployment Nears 14%

Last month's official figures show the number of Irish people who are unemployed has increased again - despite previous falls.

The Central Statistics Office revealed the number of people signing on climbed in May, having fallen back slightly in April. According to the seasonally adjusted Live Register, the figure rose by 6,600 from April to reach 439,100. This brought the jobless rate up to 13.7% from 13.4% in April.

The Live Register figures had shown little change in the early months of the year, leading to suggestions that the rise in unemployment could be stabilising. The headline figure, which does not take seasonal factors into account, was up by 5,265 to 437,922.

The number of people on the dole in May was just over 11% higher than a year earlier.

However, despite the apparent stability, Fine Gael's Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar said the Government's lack of a jobs and stimulus package had become "damaging".

"This is the highest number of unemployed people ever in Irish history with 439,100 now signing on. Another 1,650 people joined the dole queues every week in May.

"It's a truly appalling situation, with overall unemployment now at 13.7%," Mr Varadkar said.

He added: "The Government has spent the last month lying about its employment strategy and spinning against the Opposition parties, instead of taking action to stem the jobs haemorrhage.

"It's fair to say that the lack of any jobs strategy at Government level can be linked to this dismal surge in the live register."

(DW/BMcC)

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