NEW FIGURES RELEASED by the Central Statistics Office show that the number of people on the live register fell in September for the first time in seven months.

The number of people on the register for less than a year decreased by 23,885, a drop of 7.5%, while long-term claims decreased by 621%.

5,887 of the claimants dropped from the register were under-25s.

When seasonally adjusted, however, the number of people have dropped by just 5,400, though it means that the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate has fallen off its peak, from last month, of 13.8%, albeit by just 0.1%.

On the seasonally adjusted basis, the number signing on was still up by 22,700 (or just over 5%) on the same time last year.

By comparison, the unemployment rate this time last year was 12.7%, while in 2008 it was 7.2%, and just 4.6% three years ago.

38% of the male people on the Live Register – 89,463 – are from ‘craft and related’ trades, while 23.9% of females on the register, or 28,451, came from clerical and secretarial trades.

The Live Register is not a measure of unemployment; it includes part-time, seasonal and casual workers who are still entitled to receive jobseekers benefit or allowance depending on their earnings.

Social protection minister Éamon Ó Cuív has welcomed the drop in the numbers signing on, describing it as “encouraging and very welcome”.

He conceded, however, that the fall was “not totally unexpected, as the Live Register always falls in September, mainly related to the beginning of the academic year and the opportunities in the education-related sectors.”