November saw the overall social security caseload fall 0.2% over the previous month, to 295,802 cases, involving 523,020 welfare recipients, the Social Welfare Department says.

The number of jobless cases fell 1.2% to 38,250 cases. Single parent and low earnings cases also registered a 0.5% and 0.2% fall, to 38,545 and 18,376. However, permanent disability cases rose 0.3% to 17,969. The number of old age cases also grew 0.1% to 152,412.

The total government expenditure on social security payments for 2005-06 was about $17.8 billion.