The number of people signing on the Live Register increased modestly to 433,000 on a seasonally-adjusted basis this month, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The rise of 600 people was a reversal of February’s trend, which saw a decline in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits.
The March increase brought the standardised unemployment rate to 13.4 per cent.
This compares with 13.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009, the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from the Quarterly National Household Survey.
During the 12 months to March there was an increase of 65,918 in the number of people on the register, a rise of 17.9 per cent. This rate of increase is lower than the 24 per cent recorded in February. This is an indication that the rate of increase in unemployment appears to be stabilising.
The estimated number of casual and part-time workers on the register in March was 42,284 men and 37,565 women.
One in three young men are now out of work, according to the CSO report.
There are almost twice as many men as women on the register at 290,867 compared to 146,089 with 85,120 people under 25 years-of-age signing on last month.
Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar said unemployment had trebled since the Government came to power. “The most worrying feature of today’s figures is evidence that more and more people are moving from short-term jobseekers’ benefit to long-term jobseekers’ allowance, as their stamps run out,” he claimed. “The social consequences of long-term unemployment are as serious as the economic ones currently paralysing the country. It leads to a loss of hope, destroys communities and causes poverty.”
Mr Varadkar claimed the Government had given the banks a bailout of €40 billion yesterday but nothing for the unemployed.
Sinn Féin’s enterprise spokesman Arthur Morgan accused the Government of pouring billions into a banking black hole rather than job creation.
“While a whole generation of young, educated and skilled people are leaving our shores, the Government are only intent on securing the futures of their friends in the banks,” Mr Morgan said. “The Ireland they are creating is not an equal or fair one. The Ireland they are creating is one habitable only for developers, bankers and their political cronies.”
Labour's Willie Penrose said Ireland was facing the prospect of long-term unemployment and a repeat of the social damage it caused in the 1980s.
“Why is it that this government can go hell-for-leather when it comes to bailing out the banks, but are entirely bereft of ideas, energy and creativity when it comes to tackling unemployment?” Mr Penrose asked.
Isme chief executive Mark Fielding said the true figures of those out of work are being masked by emigration, more people in state training and a significant increase in people staying on in education.
“A recent Isme survey confirmed that one in four SMEs (small and medium enterprises) anticipated reducing employment numbers over the next 12 months, which equates to a minimum of 60,000 jobs at risk in the SME sector," he said.
“It is imperative that these jobs are saved and policies are put in place to assist companies in job creation.”