10.4% - 352,800 - still counting
Live register figures continue to climb. 26,700 people joined the live register in February bringing the total to almost 353,000 people now signing on.
The unemployment rate now stands at 10.4% which is the highest in almost 12 years. The jobs created by the ‘Celtic Tiger’ have now been eradicated in around 12 months and the country is faced with a worsening situation. As the government toy with which tax to increase and how to reduce public spending they will be aware more than anyone else that unemployment figures are set to continue increasing.
There is also the situation that these figures are not even accurate, long delays in dealing with Social Welfare claims means that many people who are currently unemployed are not yet even included in these figures.
