The number of people registering for work last month stood at 5,568, 1,723 less than in the same month last year.

The National Statistics Office said decreases in registered unemployment were recorded among all age groups.

The largest decrease was recorded among people who had been registering for employment for over one year.

The number of people with a disability who were registering for work also decreased by 117 to 419.

Males accounted for 81.4 per cent of total registrants with a disability.

The largest share of males on the unemployment register sought occupations as crafts and related trade workers (17.6 per cent), whereas their female counterparts mostly sought occupations as clerical support workers (26.7 per cent).

The registered unemployed rate in December stood at 3.7 per cent of the labour supply, (excluding part-time employment), and varied from 4.4 per cent among men to 2.4 per cent among women.