THE LATEST FIGURES from the Central Statistics Office show that the number of people signing on the Live Register rose by 1,600 in August.

The unemployment rate rose by 0.1 per cent, bringing it to 14.4 per cent. There are now 469,600 signing on, an increase of 0.6 per cent, or 2,790 since the start of the year.

Almost 60 per cent of those on the Live Register in August were short term claimants – 278, 135, while 191, 578 were long term claimants. The number of long-term claimants continues to rise, with 40.8 per cent of those signing on in August doing so for a year or more.

The 14.4 per cent rate represents the highest the unemployment figures have been since December, when they reached 14.7 per cent. The peak was in last November when the number signing on the Live Register hit 14.8 per cent.

The CSO has said that over the past year the figures have stayed in a relatively narrow range – between 441,000 and 449,600.

There has been some good news on the jobs front today, with 45 seasonal jobs opening up in the Rathwood centre on the Carlow/Wicklow border, and 50 new jobs announced at the international software company Citrix in Dublin.