Unemployment falls by 9.3 per cent in Mayo

Unemployment falls in Mayo


Anton McNulty

The number of people signing on the live register in Mayo fell by more than nine per cent over the last month with the return to education and emigration deemed largely responsible for the drop.
The monthly live register figures for September show that the number of people signing in the dole currently stands at 12,750 - a fall of 1,317 from the previous month. The August figures which were released by the Central Statistic Office revealed that the number of unemployed in Mayo was at 14, 067.
In the past 12 months the number of unemployed in Mayo has risen from 12,854 in September 2010 to a high of 14,091 in July before falling to the current figure of 12,750.
All eight of the social welfare offices in Mayo saw significant decreases in the number of people signing on - with Ballina remaining the county biggest blackspot. In August there were 3,436 signing on in the north Mayo town but that has since fallen to 3,117. In Castlebar, 2,414 people signed on in the last month while 1,793 signed on in the Westport office.
The five remaining offices are Achill (447), Ballinrobe (999), Belmullet (1,098), Claremorris (1,315) and Swinford (1,567).