The number of people registering for employment in December stood at 6,287, compared to 7,401 in the same month in 2013, the National Statistics Office said.

The NSO said that data provided by the Employment and Training Corporation showed that decreases were recorded among all age groups.

Decreases were recorded in all categories by duration of registration, the most significant being among persons who had been registering for employment for 21 to 52 weeks.

The number of people with a disability who were registering for work also decreased by 84, to 442. Men accounted for 83.7 per cent of total registrants with a disability.

The largest share of men on the register sought occupations as crafts and related trade workers (17.6 per cent), whereas most registered unemployed women, 24.9 per cent, sought occupations as clerks and support workers.

The registered unemployed rate in August 2014 stood at 3.9 per cent of the labour supply, (excluding part-time employment) and varied from 4.6 per cent among men to 2.7 per cent among women.