The number of people claiming temporary coronavirus-related jobless benefits fell by 24,478, or 7%, to 309,515 over the last seven days as the economy continued to gradually reopen.
This is according to the latest figures from the Department of Social Protection.
A further 10,000 people who also closed their Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) claims in recent days will fall off the total next week after they receive their final payment, the department added.
The department said that a total of €91.2m in PUP weekly payments were paid into bank accounts over the last week.
Today's figures show that the sector with the highest number of people receiving PUP this week is Accommodation and Food Service activities (90,126), followed by Wholesale and Retail Trade (46,434) and Administrative and Support Service Activities (29,250).
The sector which saw the biggest decrease in the number of people receiving PUP this week is Wholesale and Retail Trade with 7,957 fewer people receiving the payment compared to last week as the retail sector continues to open up again after Covid-19 restrictions.
This is followed by Other Sectors, including. hairdressing and beauty salons, with 4,000 fewer people receiving the payment compared to last week.
Dublin is the county with the highest number of people who are receiving PUP this week at 104,909.
It is followed by Cork with 29,447 people getting PUP and Galway with 16,984 people.
