The number of people receiving the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) has fallen by about 50,000 over the past fortnight, the Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys has said.
The Department of Social Protection said a total of 333,993 people would receive the pandemic unemployment payment this week, a decrease of 29,174 people compared to last week
It also said that 9,000 people would receive over €3.7 million collectively in pandemic unemployment payment arrears.
The Minister said this week saw the largest number of people closing their claim for the benefit since the start of the year . She also said that the number of people receiving the pandemic unemployment payment was reducing in every county and across all occupations.
The figures come after non-essential retail fully reopened across the State on May 17th with thousands returning to work in the sector.
The number of people receiving the pandemic unemployment payment is in addition to the 177,969 people who were on the Live Register at the end of April.
The Department of Social Protection said on Tuesday: “Dublin is the county with the highest number of people who are receiving the pandemic unemployment payment this week at 111,566. It is followed by Cork (32,317) and Galway (18,290).”
“The sector with the highest number of people receiving the pandemic unemployment this week is accommodation and food service activities (93,687), followed by wholesale and retail trade (54,391) and administrative and support service activities (30,603). “
The Minister said that the Government would next week publish the National Economic Recovery Plan.
“This will set out in further detail the next steps in terms of the various State supports that have been rolled out to businesses and workers since the onset of the pandemic.
She said the Government had so far paid out over €7.7 billion on pandemic unemployment payments to over 860,000 people.
“We do need to be conscious, however, that some sectors are slower than others in terms of re-opening.
“Therefore, there will be no cliff edge reduction in people’s incomes on July 1st. “
