07/05/2010

Unemployment Rise Faltering

Unemployment levels across the State are levelling out.

New figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that the numbers signing on the live register decreased by a small amount in April.

Seasonally adjusted figures show the Live Register fell by 500 during April, to stand at 432,500 at the end of the month.

However, year-on-year, the number of people signing on is up by 13% and the CSO says the standardised unemployment rate in April stood at 13.4%, up 0.3% on the last quarter of 2009.

Meanwhile the volume of retail sales (excluding price effects) increased by 3.6% in March 2010 compared to March 2009. There was a monthly increase of 2.6% from February.

The volume of retail sales decreased by 1.2% in March 2010 compared to March 2009 however. The monthly change excluding motors was +0.6%.

The value of retail sales decreased by 1.6% in March 2010 compared to March 2009 and there was a monthly increase of 2.2%. However, if Motor Trades are excluded, the annual decrease was 5.3% and the monthly change was +0.7%.

Provisional estimates are now available for the first quarter of 2010 and these figures show the volume of retail sales increased 1.1% year on year and the value of retail sales declined by 3.6% year on year.

(BMcC/GK)

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