The number of claimants on the Live Register continues to fall as recovery pushes more people back into the workforce.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show the number of people on the register fell by 3,600 last month, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 309,200.

In unadjusted terms, this represents an annual decrease of 38, 574 or 11.2 per cent.

Separate CSO figures, published earlier this week, put the State’s headline rate of unemployment at a post-crash low of 7.8 per cent.

The number of long-term unemployed on the register - those claiming for over 12 months - in May stood at 140,488 representing 45.8 per cent of the total.

The number of long-term claimants has fallen by 21,396 or 13.2 per cent in the past year.

The CSO noted that the number of people on various job activation programmes stood at 77,885 in April, a decrease of 10,513 (11.9 per cent) from the previous year.

People on activation programmes are not included in the overall Live Register numbers.