Dole queues continue to fall
The number of people claiming unemployment assistance across Galway is continuing to drop, with almost 13% fewer on the Live Register since this time last year.
However, it is still up 500 people on the previous month, statistics show.
That’s down by around 30% since unemployment figures here hit their peak five years ago.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), there were 17,849 on the Live Register in the city and county in June of this year.
The figure is down 12.7% from the 20,445 who were on the Live Register in June of last year.
However, month-on-month, the figure is up just under 3% from the 17,347 the previous month.
The figures also show Galway is performing better than the State averages – where the year-on-year drop was 10.6% and the month-on-month increase was 3.1%.
In Galway City, the figures show there were 9,220 on the Live Register – that’s down 11.5% from the 10,414 twelve months earlier. However, there was a month-on-month increase of 4.22% (373 people) from the previous.
The biggest year-on-year drop recorded in unemployment in the county was in Loughrea, down 15% (331) to 1,865 (up 1.3% month-on-month), followed by Tuam, down 14.7% (459 people) to 2,662 (up 2.8% month-on-month).
There was a 13.7% drop in the figure for Gort (188 people) to 1,184 (up 3.9% month-on-month), while Clifden was down 13.1% (136 people) to 898 (up less than half of one percent); and Ballinasloe was down 12.5% (290 people) to 2,019 (up 0.8% month-on-month).
For comparison, the number of people on the Register in Limerick City was down 11.3% to 11,019; Dublin was 86,185 (down 11.6%); Cork City was down 9.9% to 14,882 and Waterford City was down 9.5% to 9,935.