Good job! Fewer people signing on in Kilkenny now than when pandemic hit

There are fewer people signing on the Live Register in Kilkenny now than when the pandemic hit last year. And there are just a handful more people claiming unemployment payments in the county now compared to the end of 2019, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveal.

The latest figures show there are 3,036 people on Kilkenny’s Live Register up to December 31, 2020. This is just a slight increase (2.4%) on the 2,964 who were on the Register at the end of December 2019.

In April and May 2020, just after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the number of people getting unemployment assistance rose to a high of 3,370 – a 13.7% increase on the end of the previous calendar year.

However, the numbers claiming assistance have been falling back since then, with December 2020 recording the lowest live register figures of 2020.