The number of people claiming temporary coronavirus-related jobless benefits fell by 24,478, or 7%, to 309,515 over the last seven days as the economy continued to gradually reopen.
This is according to the latest figures from the Department of Social Protection. A further 10,000 people who also closed their Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) claims in recent days will fall off the total next week after they receive their final payment, the department added.
The Department said that a total of €91.2m in PUP weekly payments were paid into bank accounts over the last week. Today's figures show that the sector with the highest number of people receiving PUP this week is Accommodation and Food Service activities (90,126), followed by Wholesale