Laois signing on number tumbles but insignificant Midlands jobs growth in booming year everywhere else

The number of people signing on at social welfare offices in Laois has dropped by nearly 6,000 since the trough of the Celtic Tiger recession but job creation in the Midlands is well below the big gains in other regions in what has been a record year for employment growth in Ireland.

That's according to the latest available figures from the Central Statistics Office which has published new Labour Force figures for Ireland up to the end of July. The CSO also maintains signing-on records for all counties.

Live Register figures to the end of July 2023 show that there were 3,542 people signing on for some form of benefit at social welfare offices around the county. This 160% less than the 9,338 people claiming benefits at the end of July in 2013 the year which is deemed to be the trough of the recession caused by the banking and property collapse in Ireland.

While the Laois population has risen since the Celtic Tiger years, the figures also show that the signing on number has not returned to the low numbers of the boom years. At the end of July 2003 there were just 2,353 signing on.

The CSO Live Register figures show signing on rates at the three Laois social welfare offices which are located in Portlaoise, Portarlington and Rathdowney. People living in other parts of Laois, such as Graiguecullen, could be signing on outside the county.

While the Live Register picture has improved since the crash, Laois and other Midland counties are not enjoying the fruits of the current boom in job creation. SEE more on the Midlands picture below table which shows figures for 2003,2013 and 2023.

The latest CSO Labour Market survey shows that an estimated 2,643,000 persons were in employment to the end of July 2023 across Ireland. That is up 3.5% or 88,400 from 2,554,600 in Q2 2022.

While employment rose in the Midlands in the past year, it grew at a much smaller rate than in other parts of Ireland. There were about 154,400 at work in Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath this summer compared to 153,000 at the same time last year. This is an almost 1% rise.

However, the number at work in the four counties has also dropped by 1.6% since the first quarter. At the end of March 2023 there were almost 157,000 people working in the Midlands.

The Midlands picture contrasts with all the other regions which have enjoyed far greater rates of growth in emeployement since 2022. The Mid-East region, which includes Laois neighbour Kildare,  saw the largest percentage increase at 6.3%, followed by the West region at 6.0%.

There were nearly 393,000 people at work in the Mid-East at the end of July 2023. The region which includes commuter belt counties, is second to Dublin which has the most number of people in employment with nearly 800,000 recorded by the CSO.

The CSO says that nationally, the employment rate for persons aged 15-64 years was 74.2% in Quarter 2 2023, which was the highest rate recorded since the series began in 1998.  

Sam Scriven, Statistician in the CSO Labour Market & Earnings Division, gave more insights into the national picture. SEE MORE BELOW GRAPHIC.

"The number of persons aged 15-89 years in employment increased by 88,400 or 3.5% to 2,643,000 persons in the year to Q2 2023.

"An estimated 559,100 or 21.2% of those in employment worked part-time, and around 1 in 4 of those in part-time employment were classified as underemployed (i.e. they would like to work more hours for more pay).

"Year-on-year changes in numbers employed varied widely across the different economic sectors in the year to Q2 2023, with notable increases observed in the Public Administration & Defence; Compulsory Social Security sector (+11.2% or +14,200) and the Human Health & Social Work Activities sector (+5.6% or +18,600). The largest percentage decrease was in the Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing sector, down 6,600 people (-6.3%) compared with Q2 2022," he said.

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The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a continuous household survey carried out by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and is the official source for employment and unemployment estimates in Ireland.