The number of people signing on to the Live Register increased slightly in October, according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The seasonally adjusted Live Register rose to 156,600 in December from 156,300 in November. This compares with a decrease of 2,900 in September.
In the year to December, there was an unadjusted decrease of 444 in the number of people signing on, a drop of 0.3 per cent, compared with an unadjusted decrease of 1,544 or 1 per cent, in the year to September.
Although the Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment - as it includes part-time and seasonal workers - the CSO said that the standardised unemployment rate in October was 4.5 per cent.
