Dramatic rise in jobless seeking benefit

Press, 10 February 1983, Page 3

Dramatic rise in jobless seeking benefit

Parliamentary reporter

A dramatic rise is noted in the number of people seeking the unemployment benefit so far this year, and the Social Welfare Department is unsure how long it will continue.

The number of unemployment benefits in force rose 10.000 in the period of just over a month between Christmas and February 1. from 35.000 to 45.000.

Applications for the benefit remained fairly constant during July to October. 1982 — about 3500 new applications a week. With the flood of university students in November, applications rose to about 4500 a week, and were more than 5000 a week in December when the schools broke up. and a new flood of school-leavers could not find jobs.

However, the surprise was in January. Applications have been running about 5000 a week since the first week of January.

A peak in applications was reached during January for the last three years. These reached a peak.of about 4100 in January-February in 1981 and 1982.

This year applications have reached about 5000 a week, and are still rising. The effect on the numbers receiving the benefit has been dramatic.

By the end of January, the numbers receiving the benefit rose to about 43.000 and have showed no signs of levelling out or falling back.