There are now 32,000 people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment in Galway with the addition of 400 new people this week.
In total the government is now making Pandemic Unemployment payments valued at €207 million a week to 591,000 people who have lost their jobs in the Covid-19 crisis.
That’s according to the latest weekly data from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.
There are also 2,300 people in Galway receiving a medically certified Covid-19 related Illness Benefit payment as of today, up from 2,100 last week.
This accounts for just 6.3% of the national total of 36,100 people in receipt of Covid-19 illness benefits, which are also paid at a rate of €350 a week.
There are also now 49,000 employers around the country signed up to the Wage Subsidy Scheme with the Revenue Commissioners.
These pandemic specific payments are in addition to approximately 205,000 people who were on the Live Register as of the end of March.
Minister Regina Doherty said that the smaller increase in figures seen this week suggests we have “come through the worst” of temporary job lay-offs.
But, she added, with over a million people now on some form of state income support “the scale of the challenge that this health emergency has posed for our national economy and to so many households is now very clear.”
“Our priority now is to continue to support all those who need assistance and to work to help all employers and workers to adjust to the emerging reality that COVID-19 may be with us for a long time to come.”
The Minister convened the first meeting of the Labour Market Advisory Council last Friday, comprised of economists and representatives of both employers and workers.
“The Council will play a key role in advising on public policy responses to support labour market recovery,” Minister Doherty said.
Part of its role in planning for the country’s economic recovery post Covid-19 will be in assessing what sectors will be most challenged, and what skills will be in greatest demand.
To date, the department has processed 691,000 claims for Pandemic Unemployment benefits.
