The number of people receiving the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment has fallen from 439,000 last week to 412,900. This marks a decline of 26,100 over the last seven days, according to the latest figures from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.
However, 63,000 PUP recipients have closed their claims in the last seven days - the largest such figure since the crisis began.
When a time lag for closing claims is factored in, this signals that the PUP figures are set to fall even further over the coming weeks.
44,800 of this week's recipients will receive their last payment tomorrow as they are returning to work. However as new "two-tier" rules take effect, over 110,400 PUP claimants who were earning less than