The unemployment rate in May increased by 594 compared to the same month last year, meaning an annual increase of 8.9 per cent. The figure increased by 116 over the previous month.

There was a 10.1 per cent increase in the number of disabled people registering for work

The National Statistics Office said that data provided by the Employment and Training Corporation shows that over the last year there had been an increase of 789 people registering for work under Part 1 of the unemployment register.

Those in the Part 1 category are either looking for a job after leaving school, re-entrants to the labour market or were made redundant by their employees.

Part 2 of the register contains workers who have been dismissed for disciplinary reasons, left work of their own free will, refused work or training opportunities or were struck off the register after an inspetion by law enforcement personnel.

There was a significant decrease of 29.1 per cent which is equivalent to 195 people, registering under Part 2 of the register.

The most popular occupations sought by those registering for work were either as a clerk, service workers or shop assistants.

The NSO said unem-ployment among people aged 45 and over increased by 269 or 9.7 per cent.

This was partly offset by a 13.3 per cent decrease among people under 20 years of age.

Those registering for work for more than a year increased by 506 or 21.5 per cent, whereas those who had been unemployed for less than 21 weeks fell by 38 or 1.4 per cent.

There was a 10.1 per cent increase in the number of disabled people registering for work.

The NSO figures also showed that the unemployment rate in January stood at 4.5 per cent of the labour supply. Long-term unemployment stood at 1.6 per cent.