The recent spate of high-profile factory closures has not made a dent in employment statistics, with new figures showing that the number of people out of work actually fell over the past month. Adam Harveyreports.

There were 1,000 fewer people signing on for unemployment benefits in August, according to the seasonally adjusted Live Register. There were 162,000 people on the register in August, an increase of 4,500 from a year ago on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The fall in unemployment for August surprised some analysts, who had predicted worsening jobless figures.

Davy Research, which had expected the register to increase by 2,000, said the figures may have been affected by delayed lay-offs and a slower rate of immigration.

Goodbody stockbrokers still predicts a steady rise in the number of jobless over the next few months, with the current 4.7 per cent unemployment rate forecast to reach 5.1 per cent by the end of the year and 6 per cent by December 2008.

Economist Alan McQuaid at Bloxham stockbrokers was more optimistic. He said the media's focus on high-profile job losses had distracted from areas of employment creation.

Recent announcements of future job losses at firms including Aer Lingus, Coca-Cola and Xerox have grabbed a great deal of media coverage.

"It seems to us that the public is being brainwashed into thinking that we are going to see a serious rise in unemployment in the near future," said Mr McQuaid. "But in our view this scaremongering is way over the top."

The unemployment statistics are split along gender lines. There was a fall of 1,700 in the number of women signing on, only partially offset by the 700 increase among men.

Over the past year, 6,500 more men have joined the register while the number of women signing on has fallen by 2,000.

Goodbody chief economist Dermot O'Leary said this was most likely due to the construction downturn.

"Given that 95 per cent of construction workers are male, it can be reasonably assumed that a significant proportion of the increase is due to this clearly slowing sector.

The increase in female employment is largely in part-time employment in sectors such as education and health."