The unemployment rate rose to 4.5 per cent in January as 4,500 people joined lengthening dole queues, new figures show today.
The latest live register figures prepared by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveal 170,701 people were claiming unemployment benefit in January, an increase of 4,559 on the previous month.
The monthly increase on the live register reflected increases in all regions. The largest monthly increases were in Dublin (+4.4 per cent) and the Mid-East (+4.4 per cent). The lowest increases were in the West (+0.1 per cent) and Border (+0.9 per cent) regions.The seasonally adjusted figure increased by 2,300 to 164,700, the CSO said.
The standardised unemployment rate in January was 4.5 per cent compared with 4.2 per cent in April of last year, based on the Quarterly National Household Survey.
Irish unemployment has been falling steadily since 1997 when the jobless rate last touched double digits. The last time unemployment reached 4.5 per cent was in February 2000. For the past seven months unemployment has held steady at 4.4 per cent.