New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the numbers on the Live Register rose sharply again this month.
The headline figure was 384,448, an increase of just over 13,000 from March and almost double the figure for April last year.
The seasonally adjusted figure rose by 15,800 to 388,600 in April. This consisted of 9,300 men and 6,600 women.
The number of people claiming unemployment related payments and credits normally falls during April, but this did not happen this year.
The Live Register figure is a record high and represents an increase of 188,850 or 97% compared with the same month last year. This is the fastest annual increase in unemployment ever recorded.
Men account for 70% of that annual increase, but women are catching up fast and today's figures show the percentage increase in female unemployment last month was substantially higher than the increase for men. This is clear evidence that the recession has now spread out well beyond the construction sector.
According to today's numbers the unemployment rate is now 11.4%, more than double the rate of this time last year and up from 11% in March. 93,000 people have now been added to the dole queues since the start of this year, an average of 5,800 per week.
In the unlikely event that this pace of increase were to continue until the end of the year the Live Register total would be in the region of 570,000 by the year's end.
The figures also show that the rate of increase in youth unemployment is broadly in line with the pace of the rise in overall unemployment over the past 12 months. The Live Register total includes 62,200 casual and part-time workers.
