Fall of 70 among jobless in county since last month

Meath's jobless figures fell last month, bucking the national trend, although the numbers now on the dole in the county have increased since this time last year. A total of 11,818 Meath people were on the live register in May, down from 11,888 in April, a fall on 70. However, this is 250 more than were on the dole in the county this time last year. The figures for May this year show that 7,564 males and 4,256 are claiming benefits in the county, with 2,014 of those under the age of 25. The drop in the numbers unemployed saw the figures for women signing on drop by 96, but there was a small increase in the number of men on the live register. The numbers claiming jobseekers' allowance and jobseekers' benefit in Navan fell from 6,070 in April to 6,059 in May, but there was a rise in the number of young people on the dole. A total of 1,019 people under 25 are now on the live register in Navan, up from 999 in April. Kells also saw a drop in the overall number of claimants, down to 2,055 from 2,086 in April. There are currently 1,340 men on the dole in Kells with 715 women and a total of 331 people under 25 claiming benefits. The number on the live register in Trim fell from 3,732 in April to 3,704 in May, but there has been an increase in the number of under-25s on the live register. There are now 664 people under the age of 25 on the register in Trim, compared with 655 in April. Nationally, the CSO figures show an increase in the numbers on the register by 2,900, bringing the total unemployment level to 14.8 per cent, its highest point this year. Deputy Peadar Tóibín has accused the government of "not doing enough to tackle rising unemployment". He said: "Unemployment has risen again. A staggering 443,400 people are now out of work. "And, of course, this figure does not include those who were self-employed and those who have emigrated. "The government's anaemic jobs initiative launched last month will do little to address the growing problem of unemployment and long-term unemployment. It will only create a small number of short-term, part-time jobs," he added. He said this was simply not good enough when set against the pre-election promises of both government parties. He pointed out that Fine Gael promised an investment of €7 billion to create 100,000 jobs and Labour had promised a jobs fund of €500 million and a strategic investment bank with funds of €2 billion. "Yet, only weeks after taking office, they announced a jobs initiative that promised a meagre €29 million of expenditure on capital projects and €11 million on additional training places," said Deputy Tóibín.