Live Register Rises To 426,700 In December

The seasonally adjusted Live Register total increased from 423,400 in November to 426,700 in December, an increase of 3,300.

In 2009 there was an unadjusted increase in the Live Register of 133,577 (up by 46.1%). This compares with an increase of 119,642 (up 70.2%) in 2008.

There was an annual increase of 88,273 (up 45.4%) in the number of men on the Live Register in 2009 and a corresponding increase of 45,304 (up 47.5%) in the number of females.

The monthly increase in the seasonally adjusted series consisted of an increase of 2,900 men and 500 women.

The average net weekly increase in the seasonally adjusted series in December 2009 was 825, which compares with a weekly increase of 4,000 in December 2008.

The standardised unemployment rate in December was 12.5%. This compares with 12.4% in the third quarter of 2009, the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from the Quarterly National Household Survey.

In December, the estimated number of casual and part-time workers on the Live Register was 39,493 men and 34,506 women.