The number of people claiming unemployment benefit increased slightly in October, according to the latest Live Register figures.
The seasonally adjusted Live Register rose by 200 to to 156,600 in October, but the longer term trend remains positive.
So far this year the number of claimants on the register has fallen by 5,832 or 3.8 per cent, according to the figures prepared by the Central Statistics Office.
The standardised unemployment rate in October was 4.4 per cent. This compares with 4.3 per cent in April 2005, based on the Quarterly National Household Survey.
The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment as it includes part-time, seasonal and casual workers entitled to unemployment benefit.
Unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey and the latest seasonally adjusted figure, for March to May 2005, is 88,900 persons unemployed.