The unemployment trend turned downwards in August, although the live register total still stands 12,400 higher than at the same time last year.

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show a fall of 900 in seasonally adjusted unemployment last month to 177,600 people, only the second such decline this year.

The live register normally rises in August, but the 500 increase in the unadjusted total last month was less than would normally be expected, leading to a decline in the key seasonally adjusted total.

The unemployment trend - as measured by the live register - has been generally upwards this year and this had been expected to continue following redundancy announcements over the summer months.

Separate data from the recent quarterly household survey, however, suggest total employment in the economy held up well in the second quarter of this year and the latest unemployment figures provide provide further evidence of this.

With a string of redundancy announcements over the summer months - and signals of more on the way - the question now is whether this will feed through to a rising live register over the balance of the year.

Data published this week showed that 2,138 redundancies were notified to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in August, a 40 per cent rise on the same month last year.

The latest figures show the unemployment rate in August was 4.5 per cent, unchanged from the previous month and just slightly up from the 4.4 per cent shown for April in the recent household survey. While the unemployment rate is the highest since early 2000, it is still well below most other economies, with the EU average being 8.1 per cent.

The latest figures confirm that the Irish labour market has proved "amazingly resilient" in the face of the international downturn, commented Mr Jim Power, economist at Friends First. The average unemployment rate for the year is likely to be around 4.6 per cent, he said. However job losses would continue, particularly in lower-value manufacturing, he said.

In response to the latest figures, the Labour Party called on the Government to "get to grips with" the rate of job shedding that is occurring.

Mr Brendan Howlin, the party spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment, said "the Government is sending out all the wrong signals to employers and potential investors in Irish industry" with "internecine disputes in Government about how to deal with escalating insurance costs", rising ESB bills and cuts in research and development funding for third-level institutions.

Fine Gael's deputy finance spokesman, Mr Paul McGrath, said that on average job losses over the past year have been running at 1,000 per month. He forecast that September and October would see further serious rises in unemployment.

The Government must take the blame, Mr McGrath said, as "its deliberate policy of loading charges and fees on to businesses is surely the main cause of these job losses."

For the Green Party, Mr Eamon Ryan called on the Government to rethink its industrial strategy and switch resources from attracting foreign direct investment to supporting indigenous development.