The number of people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) has fallen to 114,600 this week, a drop of 25,526.
20,000 of the decreases is made up of students returning to college, who since last week have no longer been entitled to claim the PUP.
In the last week the rates of payment have also been cut by €50 as part of the Government's plan to gradually wind down the scheme.
The latest drop means that the numbers claiming the payment have fallen by nearly 500,000 since the peak in May of last year.