The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate has fallen to below 200,000, the lowest level since September, 1983, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

After adjusting for seasonal factors, there was a fall of 2,300 in April, comprising a 1,500-strong decline among females and 800 among males, to 199,300. In September, 1983 the seasonally-adjusted total was 198,400.

The unadjusted figures show that there were 196,852 on the Live Register at the end of April, 4,382 less than at the end of March. One third of the April fall was for people under 25.

In the year to April, 1999, Live Register numbers fell by 34,475, the largest annual drop on record.

The unemployment rate stands at 6.7 per cent, the same rate as in March, giving an average so far this year of 6.8 per cent compared to a 1998 average of 7.7 per cent. It compares to an average EU rate of 9.6 per cent, based on January figures. The CSO figures were welcomed by the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, who said unemployment had dropped by 58,000 since the Government took office.

"The continuing downward trend in the Live Register is, I believe, evidence that our policies in relation to employment are continuing to pay dividends," he said. However, the Labour Party spokesman on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said a dichotomy existed between a growing skills shortage, on the one hand, and 199,300 unemployed people, on the other.

The general secretary of the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, Mr Mike Allen, said there was a growing tendency to paint unemployed people as unemployable misfits.

"We must be able to regain the perspective of horror which greeted this level of unemployment when it first occurred. Mass unemployment is not acceptable just because we have been numbed by the even worse unemployment of the intervening years," he said.

According to figures from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, a total of 6,010 unemployed people were referred to FAS in the six months between September and February under the Employment Action Plan (EAP). Of these, 3,270 (54 per cent) were no longer on the Live Register by March 31st.