THE LIVE REGISTER fell by 2,300 on a seasonally-adjusted basis last month to a total of 437,300.

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office put the standardised unemployment rate at 14.8 per cent for July, which is unchanged from June.

The Live Register showed a monthly decrease of 1,600 women and 800 men since June.

The CSO says that in unadjusted terms, 460,323 people signed on to the Live Register last month, which is down 2.1 per cent annually.

Last month, there were 200,086 long-term claimants on to the Live Register with the number of men who are long-term claimants increasing by 3 per cent (or 4,160) in the year to July. The number of women long-term claimants has increased by 11.1 per cent over the year to July (or 5,864 women).

Over half of all claimants last month were short-term claimants (56.5 per cent). This figure has fallen by 7.1 per cent since July 2011.

There were 39,627 new registrations on the Live Register last month. The CSO says that the change in the number of new registrants and the total Live Register figure “is accounted for by closed claims and movements between schemes”.