There were 2,700 less people on the Live Register in February, than in January, when the figures are seasonally adjusted.

Figures from the CSO show that there were 321,000 signing on.

In unadjusted terms, there was an annual drop of 10% in February, compared to the same month in 2015.

The number of male claimants decreased by 25,637 (-11.9%) to 190,248 in the year to February 2016, while female claimants decreased by 9,764 (-7.0%) to 129,475.

The Live register is not designed to measure unemployment, it also includes part-time workers, seasonal and casual workers entitled to Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Allowance.