Irish COVID-19 adjusted unemployment rate hits record 28.2%

[denem]

Source: Reuters

DUBLIN, May 8 (Reuters) - Ireland’s unemployment rate shot up to 28.2% at the end of April including those receiving emergency jobless benefits due to the coronavirus pandemic, the highest rate on record and up from just 4.8% two months ago, the statistics office said on Friday.

Ireland introduced stay-home measures at the end of March, shutting down all but essential services to slow the spread of the virus, and it intends to start lifting them gradually from May 18.

The new COVID-19 Adjusted Unemployment rate rose sharply from 15.5% in March after the number of people claiming the higher emergency payment more than doubled to 602,107, on top of a seasonally adjusted 216,900 on regular jobless benefits.

The highest previous jobless rate recorded since the series was first published 37 years ago was 17.3% in 1985. It hit a post-financial crisis high of 16% in 2012 when Ireland was midway through a three-year international bailout

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/ireland-economy-unemployment/update-1-irish-covid-19-adjusted-unemployment-rate-hits-record-28-2-idUSL8N2CQ2QB

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The adjusted unemployment rate does not include 427,400 (18% of workforce) on the government's wage subsidy scheme where the state pays 70% of wages up to a maximum of 410 euros a week.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Once COVID forces people to reexamine values, consumerism will be dead for a long time

and I do mean values - family and spiritual values, bottom line numbers, the use value of trinkets. We're overdue for a shakeup.

[iluvtennis]

2. And a reduction in consumerism would be a great thing --too much materialism in today's world. nt