The latest Live Register figures show unemployment is continuing to fall. New figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show unemployment fell to 12.4% in December.
That is a fall from 14% at the end of 2012.
The numbers on the Live Register fell by 3,300, reducing the seasonally adjusted total to 402,800. While under-25s now account for just under 15% of the total numbers signing on.
The figures show a monthly decrease of 2,400 males in December 2013, while females fell by 900 over the same period.
The number of long-term claimants in December stood at 179,621, giving an overall annual decrease of 7,523 there.
54.6% of all claimants on the Live Register in December were short-term, while the the comparable figure for December 2012 was 55.8%.
IBEC economist Fergal O'Brien says the figures are recovering more quickly than expected.
