35% fewer people receive pandemic payment in Donegal

The number of people claiming the Pandemic Unemployment Payment in Donegal has fallen by 35% over the past two months, according to figures published by the government.
14,700 people receive the payment in Donegal today, 1,200 fewer than received it last week, and 8,000 down on the 22,700 people who received the payment on May 5th at the height of the lockdown.
Nationally, 26-thousand fewer people will receive the pandemic unemployment today compared to last week.
Just under 413-thousand people will be issued the payment, at a cost of 128 million euro to the state.
A quarter of those people will be paid the new lower rate of 203 euro a week.
In the past week, 63-thousand people have closed their claim, with around 54-thousand of them saying they were returning to work.