The number of people in receipt of unemployment benefit fell for a third straight month in November.
The decline of 4,200 in the Live Register brought the numbers on welfare down to 438,800, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The standardised unemployment rate, which is calculated separately, fell to 13.5 per cent in November, down marginally from 13.6 per cent the previous month.
This compares with an unemployment rate of 13.2 per cent recorded at the end of the second quarter in the latest Quarterly National Household Survey, which is a more accurate indicator of joblessness.
The 4,200 decrease was composed of 2,600 men and 1,600 women. The average net weekly decrease in the numbers claiming benefits in November was 1,050, compared to 1,320 in October.
Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív said the figures provided further evidence that the Live Register was stabilising. “The Live Register has risen in November in each of the last five years but this year sees the first November fall since 2004. The scale of the fall is positive too as it is the biggest November fall since 1999,” he said.
However, he said that unemployment levels remained high and job protection, job creation and productivity growth are the Government’s key concerns.
Labour Party enterprise spokesman Willie Penrose said while the decline in Live Register numbers was welcome the underlying pattern remained unchanged.
“Virtually all of the decline recorded today can be attributed to factors such as the emigration, the likes of which we have not seen since the 1980s,” he said.
A break-down of the figures revealed that roughly one-third, or 150,327, of the Live Register in November were classified as long term - or more than one year - claimants.
So far this year, the number of long term male claimants has increased by 43,105 or 64.1 per cent, with the number of females up 15, 875 or 66 per cent. The total number of long term claimants increased by 2,719 or 1.8 per cent in November. However, the number of short term claimants fell by 7,270 or 2.6 per cent last month.
About two thirds or 274,675 of the total claimants last month were short term, compared to 322,158 or 77.9 per cent in Novermber last year.
The fall of 47,483 over the year consisted of a decrease of 38,970 in the number of male short term claimants and a decrease of 8,513 in female short term claimants.
The Live Register includes part-time workers, seasonal and casual workers who are entitled to claim benefits in order to support their incomes.
Of the total claimants last month, 18.9 per cent, or 80,208, were casual and part-time workers, compared to 77,924 or 18.1 per cent in October.
The number of Irish nationals accounted for 82.4 per cent, or 350,220, of the number of persons on the register last month. There was a monthly decrease of 4,698 (-1.3 per cent) in Irish nationals and an increase of 147 (+0.2 per cent) in non-Irish nationals.
The total number on the unadjusted Live Register was 425,002, representing an annual increase of 11,496 or 2.8 per cent, the data showed.
Business group Chambers Ireland said the figures offered grounds for optimism.
"The number of people on the Live Register is still too high, however the fact that seasonally adjusted figures have once again declined, combined with Ireland's strong performance on exports provides some optimism amidst a lot of bad news," said chief executive Ian Talbot.
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