Kenneth Fox
There has been an increased share of people aged under 60 years living in jobless households in Quarter 2 2020, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
From the period from April 1st– June 30th (Q2), 11.7 per cent of people aged 0-59 years were living in jobless households compared to 9.6 per cent in Q2 2019
The Mid-East had the lowest proportion of people aged 0-59 years living in jobless households in Q2 2020 (9.9 per cent), while the Border region had the highest proportion (17.7 per cent)
More than half of households (57.2 per cent) consisted of no more than two persons in Q2 2020
There were 2,413,200 adult members of family units in Q2 2020 which was an increase of 19,600 or 0.8 per cent from the 2,393,600 recorded a year earlier.
The number of adult members classified as being employed was down by 1.5 per cent or 23,600 to 1,523,900 while those classified as unemployed fell by 16.7 per cent or 9,100 to 45,400
Employment rates for adult members of all family unit types fell in the year to Q2 2020 but the fall was more pronounced among those with children.
Lone parent households
Commenting on the report, Jim Dalton, statistician, said:
"The Covid-19 pandemic has had a considerable impact on the Irish Labour Market in 2020. That impact started towards the end of Quarter 1 (Q1) 2020 and this is reflected in the impact on the labour market situation of members of the different family unit types in Q2 2020.
"Just over a fifth (21.4 per cent) of all households in Q2 2020 consisted of couples without children while just over one third consisted of couples with children (34.3 per cent) and almost one eighth were lone parent households (12.6 per cent)."
Employment rates for adult members (aged 15-64 years) of all family unit types fell in the year to Q2 2020 but it was more pronounced among those with children.
The employment rate for adult members of all family units with children fell from 76.4 per cent to 74.5 per cent.
The CSO said within this category, the reduction in rate was highest for adult members of lone parent households which fell from 64.3 per cent to 60.7 per cent over the year.
The fall in the employment rate for adult members of couples without children was less pronounced, falling from 75.8 per cent to 75.1 per cent over the same period.
