Labour Market Statistics Published

Date published: 16 August 2017

The Labour Market Statistics were published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

Northern Ireland Composite Economic Index Quarter 2 2020
Northern Ireland Composite Economic Index Quarter 2 2020

The Labour Market Statistics were published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) employment rate increased over the quarter, economic inactivity rate decreased.

  • There was an increase (0.8 pps) in the employment rate (69.2%) over the quarter and (0.1 pps) over the year. The economic inactivity rate (26.9%) decreased over the quarter by 0.8 pps but increased by 0.5 pps over the year.
  • The latest NI seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the period April - June 2017 was 5.3%, unchanged from the previous quarter and down 0.7 pps over the year (from 6.0%).
  • The latest NI unemployment rate (5.3%) was above the UK average of 4.4% however, it was below the European Union (7.8%) rate for May 2017 and Republic of Ireland (6.3%) rate for June 2017.

NI claimant count continues to fall

  • The more recent seasonally adjusted number of people claiming unemployment related benefits stood at 29,800 (3.3% of the workforce) in July 2017, representing a decrease of 700 from the previous month’s revised figure.

Confirmed redundancies decreased over the year

  • There were 77 confirmed redundancies in July 2017. Over the last year to 31st July 2017 there has been a 30% decrease in the number of confirmed redundancies: from 3,229 in the previous year to 2,245.

Commentary

  • This is the first release containing 4 full quarters of post EU referendum data.
  • The changes in the labour market since April - June 2016 (the quarter preceding the referendum) are mostly positive with decreases in unemployment over the year resulting in the joint lowest rate since the economic downturn, together with improvements in the employment rate over the quarter and the year. However the economic inactivity rate has varied throughout the year; decreasing over the quarter and increasing by 0.5 pps over the year.
  • Results from the claimant count also provide a positive picture, continuing the trend of stable or falling claimant levels evident since February 2013.
  • Overall there is little evidence of a significant impact on the local labour market that could be attributed to the EU referendum in the year following the vote. Improvements seen in the labour market over the year are consistent with recent trends since 2013.

Notes to editors: 

  1. The Labour Market Report is a monthly overview of key labour market statistics. It includes figures from the Labour Force Survey, the claimant count (people claiming unemployment related benefits), the Quarterly Employment Survey of employers and the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings as well as official redundancy data.
  2. The NI claimant count measure of unemployment is based on people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) from Jobs and Benefits Office Administrative Systems. From 17 June 2015, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) replaced the claimant count based on JSA for Great Britain (GB) with an experimental claimant count based on JSA claimants and a measure of out-of-work claimants of Universal Credit (UC). For more information please refer to the Further Information section of the Labour Market Report (Page 28).
  3. The official measure of unemployment is the Labour Force Survey. This measure of unemployment relates to people without a job who were available for work and had either looked for work in the last four weeks or were waiting to start a job. This is the International Labour Organisation definition. Labour Force Survey estimates are subject to sampling error. This means that the exact figure is likely to be contained in a range surrounding the estimate quoted. For example, the number of unemployed persons is likely to fall within 1.1% of the quoted estimate (i.e. between 4.2% and 6.4%).
  4. Employee jobs figures are taken from the Quarterly Employment Survey a survey of public sector organisations and private sector firms.
  5. This report will be of interest to Ministers, policy makers, public bodies, the business community, banks, economic commentators, academics and the general public with an interest in the local economy.
  6. The detailed statistical bulletin is available on the NISRA website.  
  7. For media enquiries, please contact DfE Press Office on 028 9052 9604. Outside office hours, please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07623974383 and your call will be returned.
  8. Feedback is welcomed and should be addressed to: Responsible statistician: Andrew Mawhinney, Economic & Labour Market Statistics Branch (ELMS), andrew.mawhinney@nisra.gov.uk or Tel: 028 9052 9668.
  9. Follow ELMS on Twitter - @ELMSNISRA

 

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