The number of people signing on the live register fell in January by 1,700 after seasonal factors were taken into account, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday.
But while the number of people signing on was the lowest since October 1982, the live register rose by a total of 395 in the midlands, mid-east and mid-west regions of the State.
Overall, the CSO said 171,700 people signed on in January, 37,852 less than in the same month last year once seasonal factors had been taken into account.
The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for January was 4.9 per cent, down from 5 per cent in December. The comparable annual average for 1999 was 5.6 per cent.
Strictly speaking, the live register is not a measure of unemployment per se as it includes part-time, seasonal and casual workers who are entitled to dole payments.
The latest official unemployment rate - unadjusted for seasonality - was 5.7 per cent in the July-September period, according to the Quarterly National Household Survey, which has been used since 1997 to estimate unemployment.
Responding to the live register figures, the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, said the Government's employment action plan would be extended this month to all people over the age of 35. Some 27,000 people had been referred to the programme up to November last, the Department said.
Welcoming the extension of the scheme, a spokeswoman for the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed, Ms Noeleen Hartigan, said: "It is vital that the current labour market programmes are strengthened to bring long-term unemployed people back into the labour market."
The Labour Party's spokesman on social and community affairs, Mr Tommy Broughan TD, said there was still a "grave need" for high-quality training to counter unemployment.
Mr Broughan said the rate of decline in employment among older women and among people from disadvantaged areas with inadequate housing and drug problems was "unsatisfactory".
It was clear from the figures that not all parts of the State were benefitting from the economic boom, he added.
No single factor had led to the rise in the numbers of those signing on in the midlands, mid-east and mid-west areas, a CSO spokesman said. These regions comprise Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Westmeath, Laois, Longford, Offaly, Clare, Limerick and north Tipperary.
The CSO noted a decrease of 2,029 in the number of women claimants aged 25 and over and it said the number of men claimants aged under 25 fell by 1,035.
Overall, however, the number of men signing on rose by 1,353 while the number of women on the live register fell by 1,730.
About 146,100, or 83 per cent, of those signing on received regular social welfare payments, the Department said.
