There are 1,800 fewer people in receipt of Pandemic Unemployment payments in Galway this week as the number of people claiming the emergency benefit continues to fall.
Payments will be made to 17,000 people in Galway under the scheme on Tuesday according to the latest figures from the Department of Social Protection and Employment Affairs.
That’s down from 18,800 last week, and almost half of what was recorded here at the peak of demand on May when 32,300 were receiving the COVID-19 payments.
Nationally there are 313,800 people in receipt of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment payments this week, valued at €97m.
This is a drop of 31,800 on last week, a represents a decline of almost 100,000 in the past fortnight.
A further 1,300 people in Galway have closed their account with the Department of Social Protection to claim the benefit this week.
Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said that it is good to see people returning to work, but cautioned that it is “absolutely critical” that people continue to follow the advice of the National Public Health Emergency Team.
“Now is not the time to become complacent and we must continue to follow the advice of NPHET.”
Details of the July stimulus package are expected to be announced by the government this week, which Minister Humphreys says will include supports to help people who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 get back into employment.
It’s expected that the Pandemic Unemployment payment will continue until Spring 2021, but that the amount paid under the upper band scheme will be gradually cut from Autumn onwards.
This weeks figures also show that there are now over 67,700 employers who have registered with the Revenue Commissioners for the Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS), which is supporting an estimated 415,000 employees.
The above payments are in addition to the 220,900 people who were reported on the Live Register as of the end of June.
