The Live Register stood at 178,996 in March, an increase of 15,748 people, or close to 10% compared to February, the latest Central Statistics Office figures show.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the number rose by 10.3% to 181,900.
The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) ended in March and those who were on the payment are now either being moved to Jobseeker's payments or have had their payments stopped. The number of people on the PUP in February was 53,809.
Today’s release also contained figures for the number of people whose jobs are supported by the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) in February.
The total number of people on the EWSS in February was 258,952, down from 363,180 in January 2021.
The total number of people on the Live Register, EWSS or PUP in February was 465,634. This compares to 939,789 in February 2021.
25% of those on the EWSS were aged 25 or under.
There were reductions in the number of people on the Live Register across all broad occupational groups in March. However, there was an increase of 18,924 or 48.5% since February in those described as having 'no occupation’ which includes those who never worked.
The number of people in this category has doubled in the past year from 28,754 in March 2021 to 57,937 in March 2022.
The number of people on activation programmes, which includes training and back to work schemes, has declined slightly from 39,507 in March 2021 to 39,208 in March 2022.
People availing of these programmes are not counted as part of the Live Register.
