THE number of people out of work rose again last month, with official figures showing another 400 people signing on the Live Register, bringing the total number of jobless to 281,800.

After a slight drop in unemployment in January, the figures show that when adjusted for seasonal factors, the number of people out of work has increased.

Despite rapid growth in the economy over the past 12 months, the Central Statistics Office figures record that there are now 6,300 more people out of work than at the end of February, 1995.

The figures, issued yesterday, are a disappointment for the Government and clearly indicate that the level of unemployment is still "unacceptably high", Democratic Left TD Mr Eric Byrne said.

In a statement, however, he stressed that "back to work" measures introduced in the Budget would start to make an impact on the jobless figures over the coming months.

"It is clear that joblessness remains stubbornly high, and the long term unemployed in particular are still not sharing in the current economic boom, despite the Government's tremendous success in job creation" he said.

Fianna Fail's spokeswoman on Enterprise and Employment, Mrs Mary O'Rourke, said the figures showed that the underlying trend in unemployment is worsening.

She said that radical measures are now necessary to tackle the problem. So far that radical action has been lacking, with this year's Budget turning out to be a major disappointment," Mrs O'Rourke said.

Progressive Democrats leader, Ms Mary Harney, said the latest increase in unemployment showed that the Government's job creation policies are failing.

"The Government's failure to make any inroads on the unemployment problem, at a time when the economic climate could not be more favourable, calls into question the whole strategy being pursued by this Government," Ms Harney said.