The overall social-security caseload in December stood at 288,145, down 931 cases or 0.3% on November, with 496,922 recipients, the Social Welfare Department says.

Unemployment cases showed a continued month-on-month fall of 1.5% to 32,893. Single-parent cases fell 0.6% to 37,036, while low-income cases decreased 0.9% to 17,221.

Ill-health and permanent-disability cases stood at 24,436 and 17,924, both down 0.1% on November.

Total government spending on social-security payments was about $17.6 billion for 2006-07.