The number of people on the Live Register fell for the second month in a row in February, according to seasonally adjusted figures from the Central Statistics Office.
The total now stands at 439,200, a 1,700 fall from January. This follows a bigger drop in January.
The CSO said the seasonally adjusted figure had fallen by 10,000 since reaching a peak in August and September last year.
The unemployment rate was unchanged from January at 13.5%.
The headline figure, which does not take account of seasonal changes, rose by 1,622 to 444,299.
The Live Register includes some part-time and seasonal workers and does not measure unemployment.
Long-term claimants now make up almost 37% of the total.
Meanwhile, figures from the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Innovation show that there were 3,134 lay-offs last month, down 44.2% on the same month last year.
For the first two months of 2011, redundancies are down 34.2% to 8,016.
ISME, an organisation that represents small businesses, says the new Government needs to implement an action plan for job maintenance and creation without delay.
