The Live Register fell by nearly 35,000 to 141,586 by December 2000, figures published today show.
A report released by the Central Statistics Office shows - when seasonal factors are taken into account - that the trend for December 2000 was a decrease of 5,300 people.
The report indicates the number of male registrants decreased by 19,012 and female registrants decreased by 15,941 - with a total fall of 34,900 in 2000. The Live Register is not a measure of unemployment and includes part-time workers and those entitled to unemployment assistance or benefit.
The CSO report shows the standardised unemployment rates (SUR) - the estimated number of people unemployed as expressed as a percentage of the economically active population - for 2000 is 4.1 per cent, compared with 5.5 per cent in 1999.
Unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey and the latest figure, for June-August 2000 is 77,000 people unemployed.
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