THE NUMBER of short-term claimants on the Live Register rose by 70.7 per cent in the year to October, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.

The data shows that an additional 134,597 short-term claimants joined the register during the first 10 months of 2009, equivalent to 81.1 per cent of the total increase on the register this year.

Almost 9 per cent of short-term claimants joined between April and October, figures show.

The statistics reveal the number of long-term claimants on the register rose by 55.7 per cent in the year to October, with 53 per cent of the increase occurring between April and October.

At the end of last month, 78.8 per cent of all claimants on the register were short-term, down from 81.6 per cent in April. From March to April, the number of short-term male claimants rose by 1.1 per cent, while the comparable increase for females increased 8.8 per cent. Over the same period, the number of long-term male and female claimants grew by 25 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.