Almost twice as many women as men have joined the Live Register in Galway in the last three months, as the trend in unemployment turns upwards again, according to recent figures from the CSO.
Sinn Féin Galway senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh said the latest CSO figures for April-June, which show 343,000 people across the State were signing on in July - twice as many as in 2008 at the outbreak of the economic collapse - "contradict the Government spin that the economy has ‘turned the corner'".
Furthermore, between April and June this year, there was a 7.2 per cent increase in women on the Live Register nationally compared to a 1.49 per cent increase of men. In individual terms there was a State wide increase of 3,110 men and 9,859 women - three times as many women as men.
In Galway, the ratio of unemployed women to men is almost 2:1. An extra 1,123 people signed on in Galway from April to June, with 473 people being added to the Live Register in Mayo for the same period. Two thirds of these were women in both counties. From April to June in Galway, 734 women signed on in comparison to 389 men. In Mayo it was 303 women compared to 170 men.
Sen Ó Clochartaigh said "this is a worrying trend to see emerging", one which he attributes partly to "the historical lack of investment" in the region, which has made an economic recovery "even more difficult".
"Much of the employment that has been created is in seasonal and part-time employment and at the lower end of the wage scale," he said. "People are not feeling the benefit in their wage packets while they are being asked to shoulder even more financial burden such as Property Taxes, USC, and water charges."
