Numbers on Offaly live register up 1.8% in 2011

Numbers on the live register in Offaly have risen by 1.8% during 2011, shock new figures have revealed. Figures released by the Central Statistics Office last week show a total of 9,330 on the Live Register in Offaly in December 2011. This total county figure shows an increase from November 2011's figure of 9,074. It's also an increase on figures for the same month one year previous, when 9,162 were recorded on the Live Register. Of the total number on the register in December 2011, 4,273 are in Tullamore, while 2,487 are in Birr and 2,570 are in Edenderry. In total 3,322 women are now on the Live Register in the county Live register numbers in December in Birr, Edenderry and Tullamore were up, in each case, both on the previous month of November and on December 2010. Birr had the largest increase month on month, up 4.5% in December compared to November, while Edenderry had the biggest rise over the year ending in December 2011, up 2.7%. The new figures have also underlined the midlands' growing status as one of the country's unemployment blackspots. In fact, the Midlands had the second highest percentage rise in live register numbers of any region in the country last year. Live register numbers actually rose, albeit by a very modest 0.4% in the Midlands counties of Offaly, Longford, Laois and Westmeath during 2011. The South East and Dublin were the only other regions to experience growth with the South East at 0.49% showing the largest rise. The remaining five regions in the country recorded a fall in numbers signing on the live register during the year. Nationally, there was a slight fall in live register numbers during 2011, down 0.53%. Across the midlands, there were 33,266 people signing on by the end of the year, compared to 33,130 in December 2010, a small rise of 136. However, the figures showed a clear gender imbalance, with the numbers of women signing on rising by 691 during 2011, while the volume of men on the live register in the region fell by 555.