The number of people signing on the live register fell by 39,213 last year, the largest annual fall on record, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. This left the unemployment rate at 5 per cent, the target set by the Government for the end of this year.

There were 176,539 persons on the live register at the end of 1999, the lowest end-year figure since 1981. This compares with 215,752 at the end of December 1998.

The seasonally adjusted standardised unemployment rate at the end of December was 5 per cent, down from 5.7 per cent in April of 1999, based on the quarterly national household survey.

The numbers signing on normally increase, due to seasonal factors, at the end of December as employers lay off employees over the Christmas period, with an increase of 4,753 in December of last year. However, after adjusting the figures to take seasonal factors into account, the numbers unemployed fell by 5,400 on the previous month.

Mr Ahern, the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, said that the live register had fallen by over 80,000 since the Government took office.

He said: "It is particularly encouraging to note that the trend in long-term unemployment is falling, with figures recently released showing that in the two years to October 1999, the number of long-term claimants had decreased by over 40,000." Mr Ahern said the percentage of long-term claimants on the register had decreased to 42 per cent in October, 1999, compared with 47 per cent in October, 1997.

However, the Labour Party's spokesman on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said that the live register figures for December highlight a weakness in our employment market, because a large number of workers are being forced to sign on during holiday periods, on the basis that they cannot get holiday pay.

Mr Rabbitte said that many of these people were teachers and service industry workers who clearly did not have important employment rights which would afford them the right to reasonable paid leave.

"As a result, they are signing on during short-term holiday periods just to keep their stamps up to date and to keep some money, however inadequate, in their pockets," he said.

The number of persons on the register now receiving a full weekly payment is approximately 122,200 or 69 per cent of the total, while 36,700 of these have been on the register for under three months, according to the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs.

There are a further 24,500 part-time or casual workers in receipt of payments for part of the week, and the remainder of those signing on, 29,800, is made up of those signing for credited contributions and others who may not be entitled to payments.

In the year to December 1999 the number of men signing on fell by 25,746 and the number of women by 13,467, while the December increase was fairly evenly divided between males and females.