Published: Wednesday, 11th August, 2010 5:30pm

Record numbers are on live register in Athlone area

Numbers signing on the live register in Athlone have risen to a record highpoint in the current recession, shock new figures have revealed.

In July, a massive 4,279 people signed on in Athlone, a rise of 5.5% on the same month last year.

Live register numbers in Athlone fell below 4,000 for four successive months (February to May) sparking hopes that the local economy may have turned a corner. However, significant rises in June (up 4.4%) and now in July have dashed such hopes.

Across Westmeath, for the first time in modern records, live register numbers were close on 11,000 in July, up 3.5% on the previous months.

And in Roscommon, some 1,294 people signed on.

Nationally, the Central Statistics Office reported that 466,824 people were on the live register, compared to 453,882 the previous month.

When seasonally adjusted, the State total on the live register reduces to 452,500.

However, Enterprise and Trade Minister Batt O'Keeffe said that the rise was due to seasonal factors and would be reversed in the autumn.

"Behind every job loss statistic is a human story and we must continue to tackle unemployment with a range of policy measures that effect economic recovery.

However, he added: "The rise in the live register figures, which is common in the summer and due to seasonal factors, will be reversed in the autumn.

"The figures count over 64,000 part-time workers and I am working with the Minister for Social Protection on plans to put these people back on a five-day week," he added.

As an indication that economic recovery was underway, the Minister also pointed to a slowing down in the rate of redundancies, highlighted in a separate set of figures released last week.

He pointed out that the number of redundancy claims lodged for the first seven months of this year amounted to 39,105 - a 20pc drop on the level filed for the same period last year.

"This is a positive indicator that the rate of redundancies is slowing," said Minister O'Keeffe. Locally, there was a major reduction in the number of redundancies recorded in the first seven months of this year, compared to the same period last year.

In Westmeath, there were 820 redundancies between January and July 2009, but this fell by 42.2% to 474 in the same period this year.

But redundancies were still well ahead of the rate (303) for the same seven months of 2008.

In Roscommon, there were 213 redundancies from January to July 2010, compared to 329 in the same period the previous year and 197 from January to July 2008.

However, the small firms grouping ISME insisted the various figures revealed the Government's "hands off" approach to the jobs crisis.

The association called for an immediate National Economic Plan, with increased focus on initiatives to maintain employment, including the reintroduction of the Employment Subsidy Scheme to all sectors of the business community.

According to ISME Chief Executive, Mark Fielding: "The true level of unemployment is under-reported through increased emigration, increased participation on state training initiatives and a significant rise in individuals remaining in education.

These facts mask the true picture in the jobs market; where well over half a million of our citizens are out of work".