Number of PUP recipients in Kilkenny drops again this week
There are 2,337 Kilkenny people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) this week, a slight drop from 2,409 last week.
The number of Kilkenny people on the PUP during the 2021 peak (February 9) was 8,957 while at the 2020 peak (May 4) there were 11,491 on the payment.
Just over 149,000 people received the Pandemic Unemployment Payment across Ireland this week, which has now fallen below 150,000 for the first time.
There were 602,100 people availing of the payment across Ireland during the 2020 peak.
Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys released a statement on this week's figures.
"The number of people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is at its lowest level since the introduction of the support," she said.
"We are seeing week-by-week reductions in the number of people receiving the PUP – reflecting the steady progress we are making in rolling out the vaccination programme and the continued reopening of the economy."
In line with the government’s Economic Recovery Plan, the PUP will be gradually reduced on a tapered basis over a 6 month period until February 2022 to align it with the standard jobseekers payments. This transition commences in September 2021.