Labour Market Summary (seasonally adjusted)
Seasonally adjusted Labour Force Survey (LFS) data for Northern Ireland for the period March - May 2010 estimated an increase over the quarter in the number of employed and unemployed persons, while there was a fall in the number of economically inactive. The seasonally adjusted claimant count in June 2010 increased by 600 over the month to 56,100. The Department was notified of 224 proposed redundancies in the latest reference period and 135 confirmed redundancies in June 2010.
Employment
The number of persons in employment in the period March - May 2010 was estimated at 776,000. This represented increases of 2,000 over the quarter and 29,000 over the year. The working age employment rate was estimated at 68.3%, up 0.4 percentage points over the quarter and 2.4 percentage points over the year. However, NI’s working age employment rate remained well below the UK average (72.3%) and was the lowest of the twelve UK regions.
Unemployment
The unemployment rate for the period March - May 2010 was estimated at 7.0%, up 0.6 percentage points over the quarter and 0.7 points over the year. The number of unemployed persons was estimated at 59,000, up 6,000 over the quarter and 8,000 over the year. The male unemployment rate (9.6%) was over double the female rate (4.0%) in March - May 2010.
Unadjusted figures show that 40.9% of the unemployed have been unemployed for 1 year or more – up 12.8 percentage points over the year. They also estimate the unemployment rate for 18-24 year olds at 17.4% – up 0.6 percentage points over the year.
Economically Inactive
The seasonally adjusted number of economically inactive persons in the period March - May 2010 was estimated at 557,000. This figure has decreased by 5,000 over the quarter and by 25,000 over the year.
The working age economic inactivity rate for NI stands at 26.4%. This is significantly higher than the UK average rate (21.3%) and is the highest of the twelve UK regions. Unadjusted figures estimate that 33% of the economically inactive of working age in NI are students, 29% are sick/disabled, 24% are looking after the family/home, 6% are retired and 8% are ‘other’ reason.
Unadjusted figures also show that while 93% of the inactive do not want work, the remaining 7% want employment but do not satisfy the full ILO job search criteria (by actively seeking work and being available to start a job). The number of economically inactive persons who want a job stood at 42,000 in the latest period.
Estimates from the LFS have an associated degree of statistical error as they are based on a sample of the population. The annual changes for the main LFS categories of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity were tested for statistical significance. The results showed that the annual change in the employment and economic inactivity figures were statistically significant i.e. the recorded change exceeded the variability expected from a sample survey of this size (see Section 9 of the Labour Market Report for details).
Unemployment Regional Comparison
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in NI (7.0%) remained below the UK average rate (7.8%) and was the fourth lowest rate among the twelve UK regions. The NI rate also compared favourably to the European Union rate (9.7%) and the Republic of Ireland rate (13.2%) for April 2010. However, the annual increase in the NI unemployment rate (+0.7 percentage points) was greater than the increase in the UK rate (+0.3 percentage points).
Claimant Count
The more recent seasonally adjusted claimant count increased by 600 over the month to June 2010 to 56,100 (6.3% of the workforce). This compared to an increase of 100 in the previous month. Over the year the claimant count increased by 6,700 (13.6%) and the workforce unemployment rate increased by 0.8 percentage points.
Claimant Count Regional Comparison
The seasonally adjusted claimant count rate in NI (6.3%) was higher than the UK average rate (4.5%) and was the second highest rate among the twelve UK regions. Over the month to June 2010 the NI Claimant Count level increased by 1.1% (600 claimants), while the UK average decreased by 1.4% . NI showed the highest percentage increase of all the UK regions. Over the year the NI Claimant Count level increased by 13.6%, which was higher than the UK average (-6.4%) and was the highest annual increase among the twelve UK regions.
Claimant count rates for District Council Areas
Unadjusted numbers as a percentage of the resident working age population show that the highest rates at June 2010 were in Derry (7.4%), Limavady (7.0%) and Strabane (6.8%). Those that showed the highest percentage increase in levels over the year to June 2010 were Newry & Mourne (27.5%), Castlereagh (22.6%) and Armagh (20.4%). For further District Council data please see section 3 of the Labour Market Report.
Employment and Training Measures
The Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) provides a number of services and programmes to help jobseekers find work. In September 2008 Steps to Work, the Department's new flexible approach to helping people to find work, was introduced in Northern Ireland and subsumes the main New Deal programmes. Overall, there has been an increase of 66.5% (4,631 persons) to 11,593 over the year to June 2010 in the number of those claimants who are eligible for mandatory participation on Steps to Work. However, anyone over 18 years old (or lone parents aged 16 years old or over) who is not working (or working less than 16 hours each week) is eligible. New Deal statistics are currently accessible via the DEL web link below - Steps to Work statistics will be published when data is available.
www.delni.gov.uk/index/statistics-and-research/labour-market/new-deal-statistics.htm
Redundancies
The Department was notified of 224 proposed redundancies over the period mid June 2010 to mid July 2010. This compares to 81 proposed redundancies notified to the Department in the previous monthly period.
There were 135 confirmed redundancies in the month of June . Over the latest twelve monthly period there were a total of 2,994 confirmed redundancies, a decrease of 36% from the previous year (4,697). The highest number of confirmed redundancies took place in Belfast District Council area which had 33.0% (987) of all redundancies over the year.
Over the latest twelve month period there were a total of 3,347 proposed redundancies, a decrease of 43% from the previous year (5,878).
Currently there are 1,073 outstanding redundancies (that is, proposed but not confirmed), which is 48% lower than this time last year (2,052).
Note that since all proposed redundancies do not actually take place, the confirmed total provides a better indication of real job losses
Quarterly Employment Survey
The QES provides an estimate of the number of jobs (rather than persons in employment) and is the preferred measure of change in employee jobs. The estimated seasonally adjusted employee jobs total in Northern Ireland at March 2010 was 700,210. This represents a decrease of 1,280 over the quarter and a decrease of 13,260 over the year.
The seasonally adjusted quarterly change consisted of decreases in Manufacturing (-150), in the Service sector (-660) and in Construction (-460). Other industries also deceased over the quarter (-20).
Hours Worked
The total workforce hours worked per week in Northern Ireland in December 2009 was estimated at 25.5 million hours, representing a decrease of 2.7% over the year (compared with a decrease of 1.9% in GB). Between December 2004 and December 2009, NI’s total workforce hours worked per week decreased by 1.9%, compared to a 2.4% fall in GB . In the three months to April 2010, the average actual weekly hours worked in NI was 33.3 hours, which was higher than the UK average (31.9).
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)
Earning results for April 2009, which were released on 12th November 2009, show that yearly growth in median gross weekly earnings for all employees (i.e. both full- and part-time) in NI was 3.4% (to £356.7) compared to 2.2% in the UK (to £397.3). NI full-time employees’ gross weekly earnings in April 2009 were £439.1, which was approximately 90% of the figure in the UK (£488.7). NI full-time earnings increased by 5.1% over the period, compared with an increase of 2.0% in the UK.
Full-time private sector median gross weekly earnings in NI increased at a marginally faster rate (1.6% to £383.0) than in the UK, where growth was 1.0% over the year (to £464.7). This represented little change in the NI/UK private sector pay gap, from 82.0% of the UK figure at April 2008 to 82.4% at April 2009.
