The number of people on the Live Register has fallen by 44,120 (14.4%) in the past year, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office.
There were just over 262,700 people on the Live Register in May - compared to almost 307,000 in the same month of 2016.
More than 152,000 of those claimants were men - which is down 28,772 (15.9%) year-on-year. Meanwhile the number of female claimants has fallen by 15,348 (12.2%) in the past year and now stands at 110,242.
On a seasonally-adjusted basis the number of Live Register claimants fell by 2,200 (0.8%) between April and May - putting the number at its lowest since October 2008.
More than 43% of people on the Live Register in May were long-term claimants - meaning they had been on the register for a year or more. That figure has fallen by more than 26,600 (19%) in the past year, however, and now stands at 113,772.
Meanwhile there were almost 57,000 casual and part-time workers on the Live Register during the month - making up 21.7% of total claimants.
This is a slightly higher proportion than was seen in May 2016, though the number of casual and part-time claimants has continued to fall.
