Young males reap biggest benefits from jobs recovery

Young males in Galway are enjoying the greatest improvement in employment fortunes, according to latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.

The number of men aged under 25 on the Live Register in the city and county has fallen by a quarter over the past year, substantially more than any other age cohort.

Overall, there are now 14,310 people on the Live Register in Galway, a fall of more than 1,850, or 11.5% on the total at the end of July 2016.

The younger age group continue to see an improvement double the rate of those aged 25 and over, with males under 25 enjoying a fall of 24% in their number, followed by females under 25 (-17%) and males aged 25-plus (-12%), with females aged 25 and over seeing the smallest drop, of 9%.

The great majority of people on the Live Register in Galway are aged 25-plus – numerically, the largest group are males aged 25 and over, amounting to almost half of the total at 6,939. There are 5,957 females aged 25-plus, 781 males under 25 and 633 females aged under 25.

There are geographical divides too in terms of how much Live Register totals have dropped over the past 12 months, ranging from more than 13% in the Loughrea social welfare area stretching from Portumna to Craughwell, to just over 6% in the Gort and South Galway area.

The figures for the end of July in Galway City and County (with reduction on July last year in brackets) are:

Galway County total: 14,310 (down 1,856 or -11.5%);
Galway City: 7,377 (a drop of 1,030 or -12.3%);
Tuam: 2,110 (down 278, -11.6%);
Ballinasloe: 1,658 (drop of 194 or 10.5%);
Loughrea: 1,408 (down 217 or -13.4%);
Gort: 1,022 (down by 66 or -6.1%);
Clifden: 735 (a fall of 71, -8.8%).

While the numbers were down on the same time last year, there was an increase of 468, or 3.4%, on the total number on the Live Register in Galway compared with a month previously, at the end of June, with the biggest local jump of 4.4%, or 311 people, recorded in Galway City.