The number of people in receipt of unemployment benefit fell by 6,600 in October.
The decline on September, when adjusted for seasonal factors, brought the numbers in receipt of welfare down to 443,000 or 13.6 per cent.
October was the second month is a row to record a reduction in the underlying claimant count, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which compiles the Live Register data. The Live Register fell by 5,400 in September.
The raw numbers for October, before statisticians adjusted for seasonal trends, show a much bigger monthly claimant count decline of 12,800.
In the Dáil this morning, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said the decrease was "much higher" than normally expected in October. He said the economy was stabilising as shown by the Live Register figures and the Exchequer returns for October, which were largely on target.
Both Fine Gael and Labour welcomed the development but attributed the decrease to emigration.
There was a decrease of 5,100 males and 1,500 females in October's seasonally adjusted figures, the CSO said.
Approximately one third, or 161,055, of all those on the Live Register in October were long term claimants. So far this year the number of long term male claimants has increased by 44,012 (68.8 per cent), with the number of females up 16,182 (69.2 per cent).
The Live Register includes part-time workers, seasonal and casual workers who are entitled to claim benefits in order to support their incomes. Of total claimants, 18.1 per cent, or 77,924, were casual and part-time workers in October.
This compares to 76,879 people, or 17.4 per cent, in September.
In the year to October the number of Irish nationals on the Live Register increased by 18,815, or 5.6 per cent, while the number of non-Irish nationals decreased by 1,669 or 2.2 per cent.
Separate figures released by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation show the number of redundancy claims received for October was 3,910 - down 40 per cent on the same month last year.
Minister for Enterprise Batt O'Keeffe said the trend in redundancy claims remained downward, with a steady month-on-month decrease since June.
"Overall, the cumulative figures for the first 10 months of this year is down 23.3 per cent on last year's figure of 66,989," he said.
The Small Firms Association and Isme warned against complacency following the release of the figures and said that job creation should be a Government priority.
Labour spokesman on enterprise Willie Penrose said the Live Register reduction was welcome but attributed the fall to emigration.
Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Richard Bruton said highly skilled people that had the means available to them were "abandoning the country in droves".
