Ireland's March unemployment rate jumps to 16.5 pct due to COVID-19 impact

Source: Xinhua | 2020-04-10

Ireland's unemployment rate in March shot up to 16.5 percent due to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, showed the figures released by the country's Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Thursday.

This represents an 11.7-percentage-point increase compared to the 4.8-percent jobless rate recorded in February when the country was yet to be hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the CSO figures.

The March unemployment rate in Ireland was calculated by including "the 283,037 persons in receipt of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment at the end of March 2020," said the CSO in a statement.

In mid-March, the Irish government launched an emergency plan under which all those who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic will get a weekly unemployment payment of 350 euros (about 380 U.S. dollars) from the state and this temporary measure will initially last for 12 weeks.

Latest statistics from the Irish Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection showed that by April 3, the department had sent out such a payment to more than half a million people in the country, indicating a possible further rise in the country's unemployment rate in April.