Key Points
A summary of the key points in the 2023/24 Financial Year:
There were 49,337 employment vacancies notified to the Department for Communities.
Employment vacancies notified to the Department peaked in the 2021/22 financial year (91,087) following the impact of the pandemic. The 2023/24 total (49,337) represents a 22% decline from the previous year (63,300).
The Jobs and Benefits Offices with the largest numbers of notified vacancies were Shaftesbury Square with 4,571 (9% of total) followed by Belfast North with 4,546 (9%), Holywood Road with 4,502 (9%) and Portadown with 2,841 (6%).
There were 32,245 notified vacancies for full-time positions (65%), 13,307 notified vacancies for part-time positions (27%) and 3,785 notified vacancies for casual positions (8%).
Belfast was the Local Government District with the highest number of vacancies notified to the Department (15,933 vacancies) which equates to 45.8 vacancies per 1,000 population. The Local Government District with the lowest number of vacancies was Ards and North Down with 2,259 which was 13.8 vacancies per head of population.
The most frequently notified occupation types for vacancies were ‘Caring, Leisure and Other Service Occupations’ with 16,096 (33%) and ‘Elementary Occupations’ with 7,969 (16%).
The industry type with the largest number of notified vacancies was ‘Human Health and Social Work’ accounting for 13,024 vacancies (26%), followed by ‘Administrative and Support Service’ 12,051 (24%) and ‘Other Services’ with 9,904 (20%).
The greatest proportion of vacancies occurred in the more deprived areas of Northern Ireland, 32% (15,684) of vacancies were listed in the most deprived 20% of areas.
Introduction
This publication presents statistics on employment vacancies notified
to the Department for Communities (DfC). The information is taken from
the department’s vacancy service JobApplyNI which went live on 31
March 2022, replacing the previous vacancy service and websites.
JobApplyNI is a free website developed by DfC which offers a service for
organisations advertising vacancies and for jobseekers searching and
applying for jobs.
The statistics presented here do not relate to the total unsatisfied
demand for staff by employers, but to only those vacant positions that
have been notified by employers to DfC.
This bulletin presents the number of notified vacancies to DfC during
the 2023/24 financial year by Jobs and Benefits Offices (JBOs), Local
Government District (LGD), Standard Occupational Classification 2020
(SOC 2020), Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC 2007), type of
vacancy and by Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017 (NIMDM
2017).
Annual statistics are also presented to highlight the trends in
notified vacancies covering the period 2014/15 to 2021/22 financial
years from the previous IT system as well as the 2022/23 and 2023/24
totals from the new system.
Supplementary tables (Open Document Spreadsheet) accompanying this publication are available on the Department for Communities (DfC) website.
Annual Statistics and Trends
In the 2023/24 financial year there were 49,337 employment
vacancies notified to DfC.
Trend Data
The graph below (Figure 1) highlights the fluctuation in job vacancy statistics notified to DfC over the period from 2014/15 to 2023/24. Often the trend mirrors labour market conditions, for example a steep decline in vacancies in 2020/21 (45,784) the first year impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by record vacancy levels the following financial year 2021/22 (91,087) when there was a re-opening of the economy from pandemic restrictions and demand for labour increased. The 2023/24 total (49,337) represents a 22% decline from the previous year (63,300). Part of the decline since 2021/22 can be attributed to systematic improvements with the move to JobApplyNI, details of which can be found in the notes section. Caution should therefore be exercised when comparing data from 2022/23 and 2023/24 with that from previous years. UK vacancy statistics have shown similar patterns with record totals in 2021/22 but reported twenty one successive monthly declines for published data by April 2024.
Figure 1: Annual Notified Vacancies 2014/15 to 2023/24
Note: 2022/23 and 2023/24 are the first financial years providing vacancy data from the new JobApplyNI system. JobApplyNI allows for more enhanced systematic validations and it allows for identification and removal of rejected vacancies (which was not a mechanism available for data for 2014/15 to 2021/22). As such caution should be exercised when comparing with data from previous years.
Jobs and Benefit Office
The map below (Figure 2) presents vacancies assigned to Jobs and
Benefit Offices (JBOs). The purpose is not to rank JBOs by the number of
notified vacancies, but rather to gain an understanding of the spread of
notified vacancies at a local level.
In 2023/24 the JBOs with the largest numbers of notified vacancies were; Shaftesbury Square with 4,571 (9%), Belfast North with 4,546 (9%), Holywood Road with 4,502 (9%), Portadown with 2,841 (6%), Lisburn with 2,576 (5%), and Antrim with 2,551 (5%).
Figure 2: Notified Vacancies by Jobs and Benefits Office, 2023/24
Local Government District
Belfast is the LGD with the largest number of notified vacancies in
2023/24 (15,933). This equates to 45.8 notified vacancies per 1,000 head
of population. Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon reported 4,874
notified vacancies equating to 22.1 per 1,000 head of population.
The LGD of Ards and North Down reported the lowest number of notified vacancies with 2,259 which equated to 13.8 per 1,000 head of population. Caution must be shown when interpreting local level trends as in some cases, these trends may be distorted by the activity of a single employer.
Table 1: Notified Vacancies by LGD, 2023/24
| Local Government District | Number of Notified Vacancies | Notified Vacancies per 1,000 Population |
|---|---|---|
| Belfast | 15,933 | 45.8 |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 4,874 | 22.1 |
| Derry City and Strabane | 4,048 | 26.8 |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 3,988 | 26.6 |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 3,687 | 25.2 |
| Newry, Mourne and Down | 3,231 | 17.7 |
| Mid and East Antrim | 2,997 | 21.5 |
| Mid Ulster | 2,820 | 18.7 |
| Causeway Coast and Glens | 2,511 | 17.8 |
| Fermanagh and Omagh | 2,416 | 20.7 |
| Ards and North Down | 2,259 | 13.8 |
Local Government District 2022 Mid-Year Population Estimates from Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) were used to derive per 1,000 resident population figures.
Figure 3: Notified Vacancies by Local Government District, 2023/24
Figure 4: Notified Vacancies per 1,000 resident population by Local Government District, 2023/24
Occupation Type
Standard Occupational Classifications (SOC 2020) are used to classify
vacancies into ‘job’ categories. Jobs are classified into groups
according to skill level and skill specialisation. Occupational
information serves a variety of purposes. It informs the job matching
activities undertaken by employment agencies; it provides a framework
for the provision of career information; and yields guidance for the
development of labour market policies, especially those which relate to
the promotion of work based training.
The most frequently notified occupation type for vacancies during the
2023/24 financial year was ‘Caring, Leisure and Other Service
Occupations’ with 16,096 (33%). The second most frequently notified
occupation type was ‘Elementary Occupations’ with 7,969 (16%).
The least frequently notified occupation types for vacancies were in
‘Managers, Directors and Senior Officials’ with 968 (2%).
Table 2: Notified Vacancies by SOC (2020) Group Titles, 2023/24
| SOC 2020 Group Title | Number of Notified Vacancies | Percentage of Notified Vacancies |
|---|---|---|
| Caring, Leisure and Other Service Occupations | 16,096 | 33% |
| Elementary Occupations | 7,969 | 16% |
| Administrative and Secretarial Occupations | 5,208 | 11% |
| Professional Occupations | 4,372 | 9% |
| Process, Plant and Machine Operatives | 4,012 | 8% |
| Sales and Customer Service Occupations | 3,937 | 8% |
| Associate Professional Occupations | 3,299 | 7% |
| Skilled Trades Occupations | 3,275 | 7% |
| Managers, Directors and Senior Officials | 968 | 2% |
Industry Type
The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC 2007) is used in
classifying business establishments by the type of economic activity in
which they are engaged. The classification provides a framework for the
collection, presentation and analysis of data, while also promoting
uniformity. It can also be used for administrative purposes as a
convenient way of classifying industrial activity into a common
structure.
In the financial year 2023/24, the SIC (2007) group with the largest number of notified vacancies was ‘Human Health and Social Work’ which accounted for 13,024 (26%) notified vacancies. This was followed by ‘Administrative and Support Service’ 12,051 (24%).
Table 3: Notified Vacancies by SIC (2007) Sections, 2023/24
| SIC 2007 Section | Number of Notified Vacancies | Percentage of Notified Vacancies |
|---|---|---|
| Human Health & Social Work | 13,024 | 26% |
| Administrative & Support Service | 12,051 | 24% |
| Other Services | 9,904 | 20% |
| Public Administration & Defence; Compulsory Social Security | 3,575 | 7% |
| Wholesale & Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles & Motorcycles | 2,605 | 5% |
| Manufacturing | 2,051 | 4% |
| Accommodation & Food Services | 1,634 | 3% |
| Education | 1,242 | 3% |
| Construction | 762 | 2% |
| Transportation & Storage | 685 | 1% |
| Professional, Scientific & Technical | 445 | 1% |
| Information & Communication | 244 | 0% |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 223 | 0% |
| Financial & Insurance | 148 | 0% |
| Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing | 109 | 0% |
| Electricity, Gas, Steam & Air Conditioning Supply | 83 | 0% |
| Activities of Extraterritorial Organisations & Bodies | 73 | 0% |
| Real Estate Activities | 60 | 0% |
| Water Supply; Sewerage, Waste Management & Remediation | 27 | 0% |
| Activities of Households; Goods- & Services-Production for Own Use | 20 | 0% |
| Mining & Quarrying | 9 | 0% |
Deprivation
The Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure (NIMDM 2017)
comprises seven domains of deprivation, each measuring a distinct type;
income, employment, health & disability, education skills &
training, access to services, living environment and crime &
disorder. Northern Ireland’s 890 Super Output Areas (SOA) are ranked in
terms of deprivation level, which in turn, are grouped into five equal
bands known as quintiles. Measures of deprivation have been used to
inform policy and target areas of need in Northern Ireland since the
1970s.
The data in Table 4 shows that in the 2023/24 financial year the
greatest proportion of vacancies occurred in the more deprived areas of
Northern Ireland, 32% of vacancies were listed in the most deprived 20%
of areas compared to 20% vacancies for the least deprived 20% of
areas.
Table 4: Notified Vacancies by NIMDM (2017) quintiles, 2023/24
| Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017 Quintiles | Number of Notified Vacancies | Percentage of Notified Vacancies |
|---|---|---|
| Quintile 1 (most deprived) | 15,684 | 32% |
| Quintile 2 | 8,080 | 16% |
| Quintile 3 | 8,196 | 17% |
| Quintile 4 | 6,898 | 14% |
| Quintile 5 (least deprived) | 9,906 | 20% |
Vacancy Type and Monthly Notified Totals
In the 2023/24 Financial Year there were 32,245 notified vacancies
for full-time positions (65%), 13,307 notified vacancies for part-time
positions (27%) and 3,785 notified vacancies for casual positions
(8%).
Figure 5 presents monthly vacancy statistics for the financial year
2023/24. To provide a more detailed analysis, statistics have been
broken down to ‘Full-time’, ‘Part-time’ and ‘Casual’ vacancies.
Presenting vacancies in this manner allows for analysis of the in-year
vacancy trends, which is useful information for the labour
market.
The number of vacancies notified to the Department fluctuates during
a financial year as the demand for labour increases during seasonal
peaks and decreases during off seasons.
Monthly trend data was impacted by a single employer placing 2,000
Administrative vacancies in December 2023.
In the 2023/24 financial year full-time vacancies peaked in December
when 3,572 were notified, with the smallest number recorded in March
(1,990).
The highest number of part-time notified vacancies were recorded in
September (1,664), while the lowest number recorded in 2023/24 was in
December with 602 notified vacancies.
The data shows that September (439) and October (222) recorded the
highest and lowest number of vacancies respectively for casual vacancies
in 2023/24.
Figure 5: Monthly Notified Vacancies, 2023/24
Notes
Background
The Department’s new vacancy taking system, JobApplyNI went live on 31 March
2022 with the aims of providing employers, jobseekers and all users with
an efficient, modern system to advertise, search and apply for
jobs.
The previous legacy vacancy management system used the Client
Management System (CMS) and two associated websites (Employers Online
and Jobseekers Online). The time series from the previous system ran
from 2014/15 due to improvements which were made to the methodology for
recording and validating data on vacancies in 2013.
The centralisation of vacancy taking services for all local offices
took place in January 2019, impacting all data from April 2019 onwards.
This process established a consistent approach to recording all employer
registrations and vacancies, including the accurate record of the number
of available positions within each vacancy registration.
This publication is the second DfC annual Statistical Bulletin
containing vacancy data from the new JobApplyNI system. The introduction
of JobApplyNI has led to further efficiencies in notifying vacancy
statistics. JobApplyNI allows for more enhanced systematic validations
(e.g. identification of rejected vacancies) and allows for presentation
of updated SOC (2020) codes and as such caution should be exercised when
comparing with data from the period 2014/15 to 2021/22.
Coverage
This bulletin presents vacancies notified to DfC. The statistics
presented do not relate to total unsatisfied demand for staff by
employers, only those vacant positions notified by employers to the
Department. Detailed total stock analysis at Northern Ireland (NI) level
is not currently available from other sources.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produces monthly analysis of
vacancy
statistics but NI companies are not approached because of the risk
of overlap with other surveys conducted by NI Departments. Estimates for
the UK are derived by weighing up the data for Great Britain using
employment estimates (NI accounts for around 3% of UK employment). The
2021/22 financial year saw record number of UK vacancies although there
have been twenty one successive monthly declines in vacancy numbers as
reported in April 2024.
A small proportion of vacancies notified to the Department are based
in other areas of the UK or in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and are
included in the figures in this publication.
This bulletin presents the number of notified vacancies during the
last financial year (1 April 2023 - 31 March 2024) by Northern Ireland
JBOs, Local Government District 2014 (LGD 2014), Standard Occupational
Classification 2020 (SOC 2020), Standard Industrial Classification 2007
(SIC 2007), type of vacancy and by Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation
Measure (NIMDM 2017) as well as presenting trend analysis over the
ten-year period for which comparative data is available.
Further information on the methodology and definitions used in the
production of this bulletin are provided in the relevant sections
below.
Who will be interested in this bulletin?
Statistics presented within this bulletin and those derived from it
are currently used by a wide variety of stakeholders. For example, by
DfC policy officials to monitor performance and to inform future policy
decisions; by other government departments such as the Department for
the Economy (DfE) and by researchers and academics to help understand
the underlying trends in the labour market.
Limitations of data
DfC offers a free of charge vacancy placement service to employers.
The vacancy management statistics reported in this bulletin relate to
the service that was offered through the JobApplyNI digital platform
interface which allows employers and jobseekers to interact.
The relevant data are extracted from JobApplyNI each month to form a
vacancies database which is maintained by the Department’s Analytics
Division. The data presented in this Statistical Bulletin are derived
from the vacancies database.
Over time, as more information becomes available, estimates can be
revised to improve quality and accuracy, this will provide a better
picture of that being measured. Revisions are expected to be minimal and
may be due to database changes applied or to amendments to vacancies
which are live on the recent count date. These revisions are performed
in accordance with T3.9 of the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice
for Statistics.
JobApplyNI
DfC offers services that provide support to employers and jobseekers.
JobApplyNI is the new system put in place for vacancy management.
Previously the vacancy taking service was offered primarily through the
local Jobs & Benefits Offices (JBOs), with a validation team within
Employment Services Branch (ESB). Following Universal Credit rollout in
Northern Ireland, centralisation of the vacancy taking service commenced
in January 2019 and this led to responsibility shifting from all JBOs to
ESB (impacting all data from April 2019 onwards). Since then ESB has
been the single, centralised, point of contact in DfC for uploading and
managing all vacancies for NI employers using the service.
DfC now facilitates its support for employers and jobseekers through
the JobApplyNI website (www.jobapplyni.com) in
conjunction with DfC’s network of JBOs. The Client Management System
(CMS) database previously supported the Department’s job vacancy
websites and was in place for over 20 years. A new replacement vacancy
management system launched on 31 March 2022 and it amalgamated the two
previous websites- JobCentre Online (JCOL) and Employers Online (EROL)
into one- www.jobapplyni.com.
The upgrading of the vacancy management system aims to provide
employers, jobseekers and all users with an efficient, modern system to
advertise, search and apply for jobs.
The previous vacancy management system had no mechanism to
distinguish between rejected vacancies and raised vacancies. As such
rejected vacancies were included in the total vacancy count between
2014/15 to 2021/22. JobApplyNI has such a mechanism in place so rejected
vacancies (approx. 5% of 2022/23 and 2023/24 totals) can be identified
and removed from total vacancies notified to DfC. Given this
distinction, caution should be exercised when comparing 2022/23 and
2023/24 data against that from previous years.
JobApplyNI has a more robust suite of in-built system validations in
place than the legacy vacancy management system. This includes a number
of in-built software quality checks which are designed to alleviate
issues with incorrect or invalid entry types.
Official Statistics
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics
Regulation (OSR).
OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness,
quality and value in the Code of
Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics
should adhere to.
You are welcome to contact us directly with
any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can
contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR
website.
Methodology and Definitions
Vacancy details are recorded on the Department for Communities (DfC)
JobApplyNI IT system which provides an interface for employers and
jobseekers to interact.
The 2023/24 statistics presented in this bulletin are derived from
monthly data extracted from JobApplyNI which the Department’s Analytics
Division used to form a vacancy database.
Vacancies advertised by other means (e.g. newspapers, alternative
websites) are not included in the figures presented in this bulletin.
The statistics therefore do not provide comprehensive measures relating
to all vacancies available to jobseekers in Northern Ireland. The number
of vacancies which are notified by employers to DfC varies over time,
according to the occupation and industry of the vacancies and also by
geographical area.
The following notes explain the definitions underlying the data
presented in this statistical bulletin. Some vacancies could not be
allocated to categories or geographies shown but are included in the
overall total, further details are provided in the Supplementary tables
accompanying this publication.
UK Standard Occupational Classification 2020 (SOC 2020):
DfC assigns each vacancy the SOC 2020 code which best reflects the
main duties of the post. Vacancies are broken down by the nine SOC 2020
Major Group levels. Examples and information can be found in the SOC
2020 Volume 1: structure and descriptions of unit groups - Office for
National Statistics.
UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2007 (SIC 2007):
Employers are assigned the SIC 2007 code which best reflects their dominant activity by DfC. All vacancies are assigned the SIC 2007 code of the notifying employer. Vacancies are broken down by SIC 2007 section level. Information about SIC 2007 is available in the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2007 (SIC 2007): Structure and Explanatory Notes manual.
Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure (NIMDM 2017)
The NIMDM
2017 is the official measure of deprivation in Northern Ireland and
provides a relative measure of deprivation for geographical areas. NIMDM
2017 gives an overall measure of seven types of deprivation:
- Income Deprivation
- Employment Deprivation
- Health Deprivation & Disability
- Education, Skills & Training Deprivation
- Access to Services
- Living Environment
- Crime & Disorder
Vacancy statistics are presented by Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure quintile bands: ranks 1-178 (most deprived), ranks 179-356, ranks 357-534, ranks 535-712 and ranks 713-890 (least deprived). Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure ranks are based on the Super Output Area (SOA) classification of the vacancy. SOA classifications are assigned to vacancies using the Central Postcode Directory (January 2023) based on the postcode of the employers account. When a valid employer’s account postcode is not available, the postcode of the vacancy is used. Although an employer’s account is within a particular SOA, the job may be based elsewhere in Northern Ireland, in the UK or in the Republic of Ireland.