Fall in numbers claiming unemployment benefits
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits dropped in the last six months, it was revealed today.
According to the Live Register, recorded by the Central Statistics Office, 149,269 people are signing on, a fall of 8,795.
This drop included a decrease of 9,748 in short-term claimants and an increase of 953 in people signing on for a year or more.
The CSO said there are 88,682 men on the register, 31,632 of them claiming for more than a year and 60,587 women signing on, 13,912 for over a year.
Those aged 45-54 made up just under 25% of people claiming for over a year while those aged under 20 made up only 2.2% of people on long term benefits.
Of all persons making claims for under a year, the largest percentage was among the 25-34 year age group, 27.8%. Those aged 60-64 had the lowest percentage, 5.2%.
There were 58,020 claimants on the Live Register for less than three months and 18,711 claimants registered for 3 years or more.
The seasonally-adjusted Live Register figure increased by 100 to 155,400 during October.
The Live Register is not a measure of unemployment. It includes part-time workers in work three days a week, seasonal and casual workers entitled to Unemployment Assistance or Benefit.
Unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey and the latest figure for March to May 2006 is 91,400 persons unemployed.
