The numbers signing on the live register have fallen to a 20-year low, taking the unemployment rate to 3.6 per cent, according to Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures released yesterday.

When seasonal factors are taken into account, the live register fell by 300 last month to 137,500, the lowest figure recorded since December 1981.

In the year to February, the numbers on the register fell by 32,578.

Welcoming the figures, the Tanaiste Ms Harney said they confirmed the recent trend seen in the quarterly National Household Survey.

However, the Labour Party spokesman Mr Pat Rabbitte noted that the drop of 300 was "a slowing of the recent trend and shows that the spate of job losses announced in the early weeks of this year are beginning to bite."

He also said there had been a slight increase in the number of people signing on for unemployment benefit, which is paid out to those who have previously been in employment and have paid PRSI as opposed to unemployment assistance, which is available to the jobless regardless of whether or not they have worked before.

"Among these people would have been workers in meat factories who were laid off because of the slaughter programme to curb BSE," Mr Rabbitte said.

The figures showed the biggest drop in the numbers signing on the live register was in the south-west, where 550 fewer people claimed unemployment benefit in February than in January. The west also experienced a significant drop with 525 fewer people on the register last month.

The smallest decrease came in the midlands region where there was a drop of just 72 in the numbers claiming jobless benefits.

Other figures released yesterday showed that employment in private firms in the construction industry rose by 5.1 per cent in the 12 months between October 1999 and October 2000.