The number of people signing on the Live Register declined by just 0.5 per cent last month but was down 9.7 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier.

According to new figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 1,800 fewer people signed on in December reducing the total seasonally adjusted total on the Live Register to 328,600.

On an annual basis, there were 334,496 fewer people on the register versus December 2014.

The number of male claimants on the Live Register fell by 1,000 or 0.5 per cent in the last month of the year and by 25,120 or 11.6 per cent in the year to December. The number of female claimants declined by 800 or 0.6 per cent on a monthly basis and was down 9,376 or 6.7 per cent annually.

This compares with an annual decrease of 29,382 or 12 per cent to 216,339 for males, and 9,917 or 6.6 per cent in the year to December 2014.

The number of long-term claimants fell by 15,287 or 14.1 per cent over the year, while female claimants declined by 3,335 or 5.9 per cent. This gives an overall annual decrease in the number of long-term claimants of 18,622 or 11.3 per cent.

The percentage of people aged under 25 on the Live Register now stands at 12 per cent, down 13.5 per cent for December 2014 and 15 per cent for the same month in 2013.

According to the latest figures, there were 24,892 new registrants on the Live Register in December, consisting of 10,647 Jobseeker’s Benefit claims, 12,907 Jobseeker’s Allowance claims and 1,338 ‘Other Registrants’.

Supplementary data show there were 91,298 people availing of so-called “activation programmes” in November, down 7.2 per cent on the same month a year earlier when there were 87,623 individuals on such schemes.

The Live Register includes part-time, seasonal and casual workers who are entitled to jobseekers benefit or allowance.

CSO began publishing a new series of monthly unemployment estimates in June 2015. The latest figures, published earlier this week, put the State’s jobless rate at 8.8 per cent for December.