Decrease in number signing-on
The Central Statistics Office has reported a further decrease in the number of people signing on the Live Register during the first month of this year.
The CSO said the seasonally-adjusted Live Register figure for January 2005 was 157,200, a fall of 2,100 compared to December 2004.
On an annual basis, the total number of people signing on has fallen by 14,000 between January 2004 and January 2005.
The CSO said Ireland's standardised unemployed rate in January was 4.2%, compared to 4.4% in July 2004.
