36,500 more on the Live Register

December was bad, but according to Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, the increase in the Live Register is in the order of 36,500 for the month of January. The official release is out from the CSO at 11am, so should have exact figures then, but is truly horrendous.

Not only is this a personal disaster for each individual, it represents further tax foregone (February will presumably be worse than January now) and for every 1,000 extra claimants, an extra annual cost of €11.5 million in social welfare payments.

And can anyone name a pro-jobs initiative the government has launched?

Edit to add: The Live Register is now published by the CSO, who now put the unemployment rate at 9.2%.