Offaly live register falls six per cent in last twelve months

Fine Gael TD Marcella Corcoran Kennedy has welcomed the latest figures from the CSO, which show that the number of people on the Live Register has fallen for the last 20 months in a row.

In Offaly, the number of people signing on has reduced by 6.4% in the last 12 months.

According to CSO figures for February, 8,675 people signed on during the month, in Offaly, down from the 9,270 in the same month last year.

The February countywide figure is down from the 8,720 who signed on the register in Offaly during January 2014.

“A total of 61,000 net new jobs were created across the country last year. We’ve come from a situation where we were shedding 1,600 jobs per week, to one where we are creating 1,200 jobs per week.

'The pace of jobs growth over the last year has been very encouraging, and the Government is determined to increase these figures even further in the year ahead,' said Deputy Corcoran Kennedy.

“Last week, the Minister for Jobs, Richard Bruton TD, together with An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD, launched the Action Plan for Jobs (APJ) 2014. It contains 385 actions across 16 Government departments and will build on the progress to date in reshaping our economy and boosting job creation.

“The Taoiseach has designated 2014 as 'The Year for Jobs’. There are clear and positive signs of recovery; the economy is growing again, thousands of jobs are being created every month and unemployment rates are on a downward trajectory.

“While the number of people out of work in Offaly is falling, we still have a long way to go. But I am confident that we can build on jobs growth in the year ahead.”

In February, 2,284 people signed on in Birr, 2,244 in Edenderry and 4,147 in Tullamore.