Number of people signing on below 300,000
Live Register figure is the lowest since 2008
Official figures show that the number of people signing on fell below the 300,000 mark last month for the first time since December 2008.
The Central Statistics Office said the seasonally adjusted Live Register figure for August fell by 1,800 from July to 299,200.
The CSO said the number of men on the Live Register fell by 2,000 during August, though the number of women signing on rose by 200.
In unadjusted terms, there were 316,296 people signing on, down 42,780 or almost 12 per cent compared with August last year. 140,346 of these were long-term – signing on for more than one year – down 14.6 per cent over the past 12 months.Long-term claimants now account for 44.4 per cent of the Live Register total.
