Unemployment figures continue to increase

Unemployment figures continue to increase


Anton McNulty

THE number of people joining the dole queue in Mayo continued to increase in the last month, but the the 3.3 per cent increase is down on the previous month.
Last week, the Central Statistics Office released the unemployment figures for Mayo, which show that unemployment in the county has reached 10,836, an increase of 347. The figures for February showed a 5.5 per cent monthly increase.
However, in the last 12 months the number of people seeking unemployment benefit has risen by 4,943, an 83.8 per cent increase. Nationally, that figure is at 87. 5 per cent, and the national increase in the last month is at 4.7 per cent.
Ballina remains the unemployment blackspot in Mayo with the number of people signing on increasing to 2,739, followed by Castlebar on 1,938. There have also been increases in all other areas of the county but compared to February the increases have not been as sharp. A more worrying figure released by the CSO is the number of males aged under 25 who are unemployed.
In March, 1,571 males ages under 25 were unemployed with 751 females under 25 unemployed. Of the overall figure, 7,420 males and 3,416 females were unemployed.

CSO FIGURES
March 2008     February 2009     March 2009
Mayo                5,893     10,489     10,836
Achill                   283     364     377
Ballina              1,601     2,668     2,739
Ballinrobe           460      918     956
Belmullet             510     741     775
Castlebar            951     1,864     1,938
Claremorris         577    1,112     1,146
Swinford              862    1,354     1,389
Westport              649    1,468     1,516