THE NUMBER OF people signing on the live register in December was 34,496 fewer than in the same month in 2014.

Some 321,616 people were signing on last month, down from 356,112 in December 2014.

When seasonal adjustments are made, 328,600 people were signing on in December 2015, compared to 363,900 12 months earlier.

The live register recorded a monthly decrease of 1,800 people in December – 1,000 men and 800 women. This represents a fall of 0.5% on November’s figure.

The number of male claimants decreased by 25,120 (-11.6%) to 191,219 in the year to December 2015, while female claimants decreased by 9,376 (-6.7%) to 130,397.

This compares with a decrease of 29,382 (-12%) to 216,339 for males, while female claimants decreased by 9,917 (-6.6%) to 139,773 in the year to December 2014.

Casual and part-time workers

There were 65,678 casual and part-time workers on the live register in December 2015, which represents 20.4% of the overall total. This compares with 20.3% one year earlier when there were 72,362 casual and part-time workers.

In the year to December 2015, the number of casual and part-time workers decreased by 6,684 (-9.2%), with the number of males decreasing by 3,944 (-10.2%) and the number of females decreasing by 2,740 (-8.1%).

Age groups

In the 12 months to December 2015, the number of people aged 25 and over on the live register decreased by 25,294 (-8.2%), and the number of people aged under 25 decreased by 9,202 (-19.2%).

Annual decreases in people aged under 25 have occurred in all months since July 2010, while the number of people aged 25 and over have fallen annually in all months since July 2012. The percentage of people under 25 on the live register now stands at 12% for December 2015, down from 13.5% in December 2014 and 15% in December 2013.

Earlier in the week, figures showed the unemployment rate in December remained at 8.8%. Data released by Eurostat today show the Eurozone unemployment rate has fallen to 10.5% for November, down from 10.6% in October – the lowest level since 2011.

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