The number of people on the Live Register fell for the fourth successive month in May, but the seasonally adjusted figure moved up, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office.
The Live Register figure dropped by 2,688 to 161,972.
The seasonally adjusted figure added 1,800 to 168,000, although this figure is still 4,000 lower than in May last year.
The unemployment rate moved up from 4.4% in April to 4.5%.
Yesterday, figures from the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment showed that notified redundancies in May were 2,240, up 10% on the same month last year.
