Unemployment figures rising

Unemployment is on the increase. Latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show there has been an increase of 11,515 people signing on over the past year.

Last month the unemployment figure stood at 158,636. That is up 930 on the previous month. When seasonally adjusted the figure stands at 2,200.

The standardised employment rate now stands at 4.4% which is up 0.2% on the April figure.