Unemployment rose slightly in December, but the overall jobless number remained well below levels recorded a year earlier.

Live Register figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday show that numbers claiming unemployment benefit climbed by 500 last month.

This lifted the overall number of claimants to 159,100, or about 4.2 per cent of the State's labour force.

The small December monthly increase in jobless levels interrupts a declining trend that was in place for most of the past year as economic conditions were improving.

Economists were yesterday predicting that the healthy jobs market would allow the Live Register to begin falling again in the new year.

The Live Register total fell by 11,700 in the year to December.

Last month's small seasonally adjusted increase was comprised of a rise of 700 in female claimants and a drop of 200 in males.

An analysis of the register that has not been adjusted for seasonal factors points to the south-east as the worst-hit region for job losses in December.

The CSO said the register had climbed by 7.3 per cent over the month in the south-east. The worst-hit county was Waterford, where claimant numbers rose by 10.6 per cent.

The rise reflects a number of announcements of job losses in Waterford in November, including those made by cable manufacturer Kromberg & Schubert and computer manufacturer Nypro.

County Carlow also saw a substantial increase in claimants last month.

Fine Gael's spokesman on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Phil Hogan, yesterday accused the Government of failing on its regional policy.

Mr Hogan said the south-east was not getting sufficient attention at a national level.

"The Government is happy to allow a continuing decline in industrial employment without any alternative strategy to replace the jobs," said Mr Hogan.

The Labour Party's spokesman on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Brendan Howlin, said the monthly increase must not be the beginning of an upward trend in unemployment for 2005.

Economists at Davy were more positive, noting that the decline in the Live Register has "further to go", given that it remains about 22,000 above levels reached during the boom in early 2001.

"At least another two years of above-trend growth would be required before the total claiming benefit falls close to that level," they added.