Unemployment Rate Unchanged At 12.5%

The seasonally adjusted Live Register total increased from 422,500 in October to 423,400 in November, an increase of 900 according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

In the year to November 2009, there was an unadjusted increase of 146,316 (up by 54.8%). This compares with an unadjusted increase of 161,727 (down 64.5%) in the year to October 2009.

The monthly increase in the seasonally adjusted series consisted of an increase of 1,700 men and a decrease of 900 women.

The average net weekly increase in the seasonally adjusted series in November was 225, which compares with a weekly decrease of 600 in the previous month.

The standardised unemployment rate in November was 12.5%. This compares with 11.6% in the second quarter of 2009, the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from the Quarterly National Household Survey.

In the month, the estimated number of casual and part-time workers on the Live Register was 39,322 men and 34,308 women.