The seasonally adjusted Live Register total fell from 157,200 in January to 155,900 in February, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
This decrease of 1,300 compares with a fall of 800 in February last year.
The CSO said the standardised unemployment rate in February was 4.2 per cent, unchanged in January. This compares with 4.4 per cent in October 2004, based on the Quarterly National Household Survey.
In the year to February 2005, the CSO said there was an unadjusted decrease of 14,478 people signing on to the Live Register, a decrease of 8.4 per cent.
This compares with an unadjusted decrease of 13,986 in the year to January 2005, a fall of 8 per cent.
The estimated number of casual and part-time workers on the Live Register in February was 8,504 males and 13,476 females.