The number of people signing on the Live Register fell by 5,100, or 1.7 per cent, last month, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This brings the total number of people on the register to 300,000, compared with 364,628 for the same month last year.

The number of long-term claimants declined by 23,441, or 14.2 per cent, to 141,981 on an annual basis. Male long-term claimants decreased by 17,696, or 16.7 per cent, in the year to July, while female claimants were down by 5,745, or 9.6 per cent.

In the year to July, the number of persons aged under 25 on the register fell by 10,446, equivalent to a decline of 20.8 per cent. Annual decreases in the percentage of young people on the register have now been recorded for all months since July 2010.

Claimants aged under 25

The percentage of people aged under 25 on the register now stands at 12.5 per cent, down from 13.8 per cent for July 2015 and from 15.3 per cent for the same month in 2014.

The latest figures show the number of male claimants on the register decreased by 29,749, or 14.1 per cent, to 180,537 in the year to July, while female claimants fell by 14,585, or 9.5 per cent, to 138,757.

There were 62,080 casual and part-time workers on the register in July, equivalent to 19.4 per cent of the total. This compares with 68,799 such individuals on the register a year earlier.

Craft and related remained the largest occupational group on the register last month, despite the fact that the number in the group fell over the year by 10,558, or 15.9 per cent, to 55,891.

The Live Register includes part-time, seasonal and casual workers who are entitled to jobseekers’ benefit or allowance.

The CSO began publishing a new series of monthly unemployment estimates in June 2015. The latest figures, published earlier this week, put the State’s jobless rate at 7.8 per cent for July.