The number of people on the Live Register fell by more than 5,000 last month.

There was just over 300,000 people signing on in July, a decrease of 1.7%.

The number of men on the register dropped by 2,400 while there were 2,600 fewer women on the Live Register last month.

The figures for long-term claimants fell by more than 23,000, or 14%, in July to 141,981.

The number of men claiming unemployment benefit long term went down by 17,696, or 16.7%, in the year to July, while there were 5,745, or 9.6%, fewer females on the long-term unemployed list.