The latest figures from Central Statistics Office show that the number of people signing on the Live Register in September fell by 1.2% - when adjusted for seasonal factors.
The CSO says there was a decrease of 5,400 (1.2%) on the Live Register to bring the total to 442,200. The September fall comes after four months of relatively low increases in a row.
The CSO says the Live Register has been fairly stable over the last 12 months.
The headline figure, which does not take seasonal factors into account, fell by 4,976 or 1.1% to total 437,441. This is the first annual decrease in the Live Register since April 2007, the CSO said.
The standardised unemployment rate in September eased to 14.3%, down a little from the rate of 14.4% in August.
The Live Register includes some part time and seasonal workers and does not measure unemployment.
Today's figures show the number of women signing on rose by 2,834 (1.9%) to 155,453 over the year, while the number of men on the dole fell by 7,810 (2.7%) to 281,988. This compares with increases of 7.6% and 4.2% for men and women in the year to September 2010.
The CSO also said the number of long-term claimants continued to increase over the year with 41.9% of claimants in September on the Live Register for a year or more. Long term claimants made up over 33% of the Register's total in September of last year.
Live Register fall due to emigration
Bloxham's chief economist Alan McQuaid says the latest Live Register figures are clearly better than in recent months. But he said they are a reflection of more people returning to education or emigrating rather than an underlying improvement in employment conditions here at home.
''The Government is well aware that there is no easy fix to the unemployment problem, and things are unlikely to improve on the jobs front until the economy starts to grow again on a sustained basis,'' he said.
He added that with the global economy slowing down, the labour market here is expected to remain under pressure for some time to come.
