THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE on the Live Register fell by 6,600 in October – marking just the second time since the credit crunch took hold in 2007 that the number of people signing on has fallen for two months in a row.

New figures published this afternoon showed that the seasonally-adjusted figure of the numbers signing on fell to 443,000, down from 449,600 on September 2010. 5,100 of those who had ceased signing on were males; about half of the drop came from the under-25 age group.

The number was still 17,400 higher, however, than the same figure in October 2009, when 425,600 were signing on. The weekly rate of people falling off the register had stayed broadly constant based on the previous month.

The Live Register is not a measure of genuine unemployment in the state; it includes part-time workers, seasonal and casual workers who are still entitled to Jobseeker’s Benefit or Allowance due to their low income.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stands at 13.6% – a figure Brian Cowen told the Dáil translated to a fall of about 12,800 in the last month.

Speaking before the figures had been officially released, Cowen said that the decrease in the jobless figures shown by the stats were “much higher” than had been expected.

He added that the drop had been the second-highest fall ever recorded in the Live Register for the month of October.