Rate
The monthly unemployment rate for December using standard methodology was 7.2%, down from 7.3% in November.
In December 2020, the rate for males was 7.0% and 7.3% for females.
By broad age group, the jobless rate for those aged 15-24 was 19.4% while it was 5.4% for those aged 25 to 74 years.
The CSO has also published COVID-19-adjusted estimates.
If all claimants of the PUP were classified as unemployed, adjusted figures indicate a jobless rate of 19.6% for males and 21.3% for females.
Breaking the results down by broad age group, the new COVID-19 adjusted measure of unemployment indicates a rate of 44.8% for those aged 15-24 and 17.0% for those aged 25 to 74.
Data
Statistician Catalina Gonzalez commented: “The CSO has been working with the Department of Social Protection (DSP) to obtain additional data which captures the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market
“Using the online mywelfare.ie service, information has been captured on whether recipients of the PUP were full-time students either at second-level or third-level for the current academic year.
“As most recipients have used this online service to either apply for a PUP or to self-certify their details to continue receiving the payment, analysis of the online information provided shows that at least 7.2% of PUP recipients have self-certified as being registered as a full-time student.
“For those aged 25 years and over this could be as low as 2.0% and over while it was at least 22.9% for those aged under 25 years.”
The CSO points out that this analysis indicates that caution needs to be exercised when interpreting the figures, particularly for those aged under 25.
Statisticians points out that if the PUP scheme did not exist, those in full-time education would not be eligible to receive unemployment assistance or benefit, and would not be ncluded in monthly unemployment estimates.
Commenting on the COVID-19 income supports, Catalina Gonzalez added that the PUP is now scheduled to continue into 2021.
Methodology
The CSO will continue to evaluate the current income support schemes to determine whether any changes are required to the methodology for the traditional or COVID-19 adjusted estimates of unemployment
Those benefitting from initial government COVID wages schemes continued to have a connection to their employer and would be classified as employed under internationally-agreed criteria for reporting on official labour market status.
It was not possible to ascertain how those in receipt of the PUP would be classified using the labour market status criteria. Because of this, the CSO established the COVID-19 adjusted measure of unemployment as an upper bound measure for the true unemployment rate.
This measure assumes that all those who are in receipt of the PUP would be classified as employed for the standard measure on monthly unemployment and considers them as unemployed for the COVID-19 adjusted measure of unemployment.
Lost income
This assumption would have held in March when those who started benefitting from the PUP scheme were required to have lost income from employment to be eligible to receive the payment.
The assumption would still hold for new applicants for the PUP but is unlikely to hold now for all recipients given that the scheme has been extended and some recipients would now be in receipt of the PUP for up to nine months.