Inishowen’s dole figures creeps near 4,000 mark
INISHOWEN’S unemployment figure has risen to its highest level this year to date after the latest statistics reveal that almost 4,000 people are out of work.
This month’s figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that the amount of people signing on the dole in Buncrana has increased by two and a half per cent last month.
A total of 3,934 people are without fulltime employment in Inishowen – an increase in 100 people compared with the previous month.
The majority of people – 3,265 – are aged more than 25 years old, while the remaining 669 are aged between 18 and 24.
The biggest increase this month is seen in the younger age bracket with an increase of 8% from 619 to 669, while the older age group increased by 1.5%.
Between the sexes the biggest percentage increase was revealed in the females category, where they noted an increase of more than 3%.
The number of unemployment women in Inishowen has increased from 1,435 to 1,482 from May to June. Again, females aged under 25 saw the biggest increase as it increased 13% from 256 to 290, which is the highest figure recorded so far this year.
Women aged more than 25 also increased – however this only went up by 1%.
Meanwhile the number of men on the dole has also increased by 2% in June – with a total of 2,452 males of all ages currently without fulltime employment.
Similar to females, the most unemployed men are aged more than 25 – 2,073 – up 37 from May figures, while 379 young men are also without work in the Buncrana District.
Despite the increase in the unemployment numbers last month, numbers are still well down in comparison to recent years. The highest figure for June in the last ten years came in June 2010 – at the height of the recession – when 5,149 people were registered as unemployed.
Meanwhile the lowest was in June 2005 when 1717 people were signing on the dole in Buncrana.
