Unemployment in Galway down 60% since economic crash

Unemployment levels in Galway city and county are down by 60% since the height of the economic collapse almost nine years ago, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

At the end of April in Galway, there were a total of 10,244 people on the Live Register – a drop of 60% on the 25,389 ‘record’ figure from August 2010.

Unemployment linked to county ‘dole’ offices is also down across the board, with a drop of almost one fifth recorded in Gort.

For the city specifically, there were a total of 5,021 people on the Live Register – a reduction of around 63% on the 13,480 ‘signing on’ figure from the height of the ‘bust’.

Year on year, the figure for the city is down by more than 700, from 5,740 in April 2018 (a drop of 12.5%).

A breakdown of the figures shows that 2,595 were males over 25; 222 males under 25; 2,020 were females over 25 and 185 under the age of 25.

The figures also show that last month, for the city and county as a whole, there were a total of 10,266 on the Live Register, down more than 11% from 11,577 a year earlier and 0.6% down on the previous month, when it stood at 10,309.

For the county, 5,088 on the live register were males over the age of 25 and 495 under 25 and a further 4,250 were females over 25 and 401 under that age.

Figures for specific Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection areas show decreases in unemployment across the county – the biggest drop was in Gort, down 17% from 870 to 722 year on year.

There 1,152 on the Live Register in Ballinasloe, down 12% from 1,310 a year earlier and 1,594 in Tuam, down 6.4% from 1,703. Clifden saw a drop in unemployment of almost 11% from 738 to 659 people.

In Loughrea, there were 1,096 on the Live Register, down around 10% from 1,216 a year earlier.