THE NUMBER of people signing on to the Live Register increased for the third consecutive month in July, rising by 1,500.

The increase, which was lower than the previous month, brought the seasonally adjusted standardised unemployment rate to 14.3 per cent last month – the highest rate in six months.

Figures released by the Central Statistics Office yesterday show there were 470,300 people on the Live Register in July.

The number of long-term claimants continued to rise, increasing by more than 45,000 over the 12-month period to July.

This means that more than 40 per cent of all claimants have been on the Live Register for a year or more, compared to 31 per cent in July last year.

Some 17 per cent of all those signing on to the dole for more than a year are under the age of 25.

On a seasonably adjusted basis, an additional 1,300 women and 300 men joined the Live Register last month.

Some 59.6 per cent of all people on the register were short-term claimants. This compares to 69 per cent for the same month a year earlier. Irish nationals accounted for 83.1 per cent of all claimants.

In the 12-month period ending in July, the number of Irish nationals on the register increased by 0.9 per cent while the number of non-Irish nationals rose by 0.1 per cent.

Separately, redundancy figures released by the Department of Social Protection show that the number of redundancies notified to the department jumped by 28 per cent between June and July, rising to 4,723 last month.

However, this is 10 per cent lower than the number of redundancies reported in July last year.

A total of 29,555 redundancies have been notified to the department in the first seven months of the year, down 23.8 per cent on the 38,776 recorded in the first seven months of 2010.

Responding to yesterday’s Live Register data, Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association said the figures showed that the Government’s job initiative was “not gaining traction”.

However, Chambers Ireland chief executive Ian Talbot said that while the figures were worrying, it was positive that the pace of growth was declining compared to last year.

“The actual growth in numbers is declining – the numbers signing on in July 2011 was up 0.7 per cent over the year compared to an increase of 8 per cent in the year to July 2010,” he said. “This may suggest that unemployment numbers are beginning to stabilise.”

Siptu economist Marie Sherlock highlighted the trend in long-term unemployment. “The Government must accelerate the roll-out of initiatives promised in the jobs plan,” she said.