Live register has fallen by 13pc in four months

The number of people on the Live Register in Westmeath has fallen by more than 13% since the end of July.

That’s according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which revealed that there were 8,790 Westmeath people on the Live Register at the end of November, which is 1,353 (13.3%) fewer than at the end of July, when there 10,143 people signing on and 219 fewer than at the end of October.

It’s also the first time that the number of people in the county on the Live Register has fallen to fewer than 9,000 since March 2009. The number of people on the Live Register in Westmeath peaked in August 2012 at 11,071.

The Mullingar social welfare office recorded the smallest drop (-11%), percentage wise, in the county from 4,838 in July to 4,305 at the end of November, a decrease of 533. The number of people signing on in Castlepollard at the end of last month was 995, a drop of 149 (13%) since the end of July.

The Athlone social welfare office saw a 16% fall in the number on the Live Register between July 31 and November 31. Accroding to the CSO’s monthly figures, there were 4,161 people signing on in Athlone at the end of July compared to 3,490 at the end of November, a decrease of 671.

During the four month period, the nubmer of Westmeath women on the Live Register fell from 4453 to 3721, a decrase of 732 (-16%). The drop in the number of men on the Live Register was 621 (11%), down from 5,690 in July to 5,069 in November. Nationally, the number of people signing on last month was 352,600, a drop of 38,860 (9.9%) on the same period last year.