Government figures have revealed the number of people on the Live Register rose sharply in July.

The Central Statistics Office said the numbers signing on, considering seasonal factors, climbed by a year high of 8,500 from June to reach 452,500.

In a turnaround of previous findings, the figures show that women accounted for more than half of the increase. Men have previously made up the majority of those losing their jobs during the fall of the construction sector.

The unadjusted figure showed there were 466,800 people signing on, an increase of almost 14,000 from June. The CSO said the unemployment rate rose to 13.7%, from 13.4%, in June.

This morning the Labour party said the jobs "crisis" was taking its toll as income tax remained nearly €300m behind target for the year to date.

The Opposition party's Spokesperson on Agriculture and Food, Sean Sherlock, said today's exchequer figures are "dreary".

"To control the headline deficit in the face of reduced tax revenues, the government has clearly decided to put the breaks on capital spending which has been slashed by a third compared to the first seven months of last year," Mr Sherlock said this morning.

The Labour TD added: "With nearly one in four euro of the capital budget not having been spent, €660m more than planned has effectively been taken out of the economy by the government. This reduced level of investment. is causing job losses in the short term and could constrain competitiveness and hamper recovery in the medium-to-long term."

Mr Sherlock said that trying to reduce the deficit without a proper jobs and growth strategy is like "a dog chasing his tail".

"The Government just doesn't seem to get the fact that growing the economy, getting credit flowing to SMEs and tackling the jobs crisis are fundamental to closing the budget deficit," he said.

(DW)