Official figures show that the number of people on the Live Register rose sharply in July.
The Central Statistics Office said the numbers signing on - when seasonal factors are taken into account - climbed by 8,500 from June to reach 452,500. This was the biggest rise for a year. The figures show that women accounted for more than half of the increase.
The unadjusted figure showed that there were 466,800 people signing on, an increase of almost 14,000 from June. The CSO said the unemployment rate rose to 13.7% from 13.4% in June.
The Live Register includes some part-time, seasonal and casual workers. It is not designed to measure unemployment, though it is regarded as the most up-to-date indicator of the state of the jobs market.
The unadjusted Live Register figure in July was 8% higher than a year earlier. A regional breakdown for July showed that the biggest increases from June were in the West (3.9%) and Mid-West (3.5%).
Separate figures from the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Innovation show that redundancies are running below last year's levels, though the figures remain high compared with 2008.
5,298 lay-offs were notified to the department in July, down 15.7% from the same month last year. For the first seven months of the year, redundancies are down almost 20% from the same period last year at 39,105. This is still, however, not much less than the 40,000 recorded in the whole of 2008..
Biggest rise in 'professional' category
The CSO has also broken down for the first time the numbers signing on by occupation. This shows that people in the craft and related category accounted for just over a quarter of people on the Live Register in July, followed by plant and machine operatives (15.4%). But the biggest increase from June was recorded in the professional category, where the numbers signing on rose by more than 12% compared with June.
NCB economist Brian Devine said the figures for recent months were 'discouraging' after a period of stabilisation from February to April. He said the number of new signings on in July was 60,187, the biggest figure since January.
SFA director Avine McNally called the figures 'disappointing', adding that the 8,500 increase showed the weakness of the labour market. ISME chief executive Mark Fielding claimed the true level of unemployment was being under-reported because of increased emigration, increased participation on state training initiatives and a significant rise in people remaining in education.
Employers' group IBEC said the larger than expected increase in the Live Register reflected ongoing weakness in the domestic economy.
ICTU economic adviser Paul Sweeney blamed the rise on Government policies, saying 'massive cuts' were deflating the economy, throwing more people out of work, closing businesses and pushing up emigration.
But Enterprise, Trade & Innovation Minister Batt O'Keeffe claimed the rise in the Live Register would be reversed in the Autumn, and pointed to the slowing rate of redundancies.
