This is reduction of almost 24,000 on the figure for July.

According to the latest CSO figures, the seasonally adjusted figure for those on the Live Register in August was 168,400, down 1,600.

The number of people on the PUP in the last week of August was 143,606. This was a decline of 19,721 compared to July and 83,353 compared to last year.

There is more of a time lag in compiling those in jobs supported by the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS). The latest figure is for July when the jobs of 363,198 people were supported by the EWSS.

Taken together, the combined number on the Live Register, PUP and EWSS was 689,993 in July. This compares to 951,605 in July 2020.

The high point was April 2020 when the incomes of almost 1.2 million people depended on one of these schemes.

Today’s CSO release also contained a figure for the number of long term unemployed, defined as those without work for over a year, who are availing of so-called “activation programmes” to return to work.

That number was 33,657 in July, a reduction of just over 5,000 or 13.1% on the numbers on activation programmes the same time last year.

Earlier this week the CSO reported that the unemployment rate stood at 12.4% in August, when those on the PUP are included. This was down from 13.5% in July.

The CSO said the seasonally adjusted traditional rate of unemployment was 6.4%, down marginally from 6.5% in July. The same measure was 7.1% in August last year.