Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

They are to come out this morning. The live register to the end of March was 371,300, which represents an increase of 16,863 on last month. The standardised unemployment rate for March is expected to be 10.9%. The rate has continued to rise strongly but it has shown some signs of abating. A fall is, however, unlikely in coming months and seasonal factors mainly associated with holidays in the educational sector will further disimprove the position in June.

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