1. Overview

This summary provides key labour market results from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for the year ending 31st December 2024. Headline employment, unemployment and economic inactivity estimates are included.

1.1 Key points

The Northern Ireland (NI) unemployment rate (aged 16 and over) in 2024 was estimated at 1.8%. The unemployment rate decreased from the previous year (2.2%) by 0.4 percentage points (pps). The annual change was not statistically significant.

2. Unemployment
The 2024 employment rate (proportion of those aged 16 to 64 in work) in NI was estimated at 74.0%. The employment rate increased from the previous year (73.6%) by 0.4 percentage points (pps). The annual change was not statistically significant.

3. Employment
The 2024 economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 who were not working nor seeking or available to work) in NI was estimated at 24.6%. The economic inactivity rate decreased from the previous year (24.7%) by 0.1 percentage points (pps). The annual change was not statistically significant.

4. Economic inactivity

1.2 Context

The Use of Economic and Labour Market Business and Household Surveys page provides recent examples of how data collected from the Labour Force Survey is used to inform, develop and monitor evidence-based policies. A Labour Market Outputs consultation in summer 2019 Labour Market Statistics User Engagement page showed labour market statistics are also used in academic and private sector research. Significant non-governmental users of labour market statistics include the media, banks, academics, private consultants, and the general public. User requested analysis is published on the NISRA website.

1.3 Things users need to know

This publication contains the first release of 2024 annual data for headline economic indicators.

Further breakdowns of annual data are planned for later in the year and users will be kept informed in due course.


2. Unemployment

LFS unemployment: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines unemployed as those aged 16 and over without a job who were able to start work in the two weeks following their LFS interview and had either looked for work in the four weeks prior to interview or were waiting to start a job they had already obtained.

Key findings

  • The Northern Ireland (NI) unemployment rate (aged 16 and over) in 2024 was estimated at 1.8%, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points (pps) over the year (not statistically significant) and a significant decrease of 4.6pps over the decade.
  • The number of unemployed persons aged 16 and over in 2024 was estimated at 17,000, a decrease of 4,000 over the year and a decrease of 38,000 over the decade.
  • The unemployment rate (16 and over) in 2024 was estimated at 2.2% for males and 1.3% for females.

Of those aged 16 and over who were unemployed in 2024, 65% (11,000) were male and 35% (6,000) were female. The changes by gender included:

  • The male (16 and over) unemployment rate (2.2%) decreased by 0.6pps over the year.
  • The female (16 and over) unemployment rate (1.3%) decreased by 0.3pps over the year.

Figure 1: The unemployment rate for NI in 2024 is the lowest in the series

Northern Ireland unemployment rate (16 and over), Jan to Dec 2014 to Jan to Dec 2024
Chart
Note: graph has a non-zero axis
Table
Year Male Unemployment Rate (%) Females Unemployment Rate (%) Northern Ireland Unemployment Rate (%)
2014 7.7 4.9 6.4
2015 7.2 4.6 6.0
2016 6.9 5.1 6.1
2017 5.6 3.1 4.4
2018 4.4 2.9 3.7
2019 2.7 2.4 2.6
2020 2.9 3.0 2.9
2021 4.3 3.1 3.7
2022 2.7 1.7 2.2
2023 2.8 1.6 2.2
2024 2.2 1.3 1.8


Figure 1 shows the unemployment rates for NI and for males and females over the last 10 years. For the third year in a row the unemployment rate for NI is the lowest in the series at 1.8%. The unemployment rate has been higher for males than for females for the majority of this period. The gap between the unemployment rates for males and females saw a decrease from 2.8pps in 2014 to a minimal difference of less than 0.1pps in 2020, it has widened in the four years since to 0.9pps in 2024.


3. Employment

LFS employed: people aged 16 or over who did at least one hour of paid work in the reference week (whether as an employee or self-employed); those who had a paid job that they were temporarily away from; those on government-supported training and employee programmes and those doing unpaid family work.

Key findings

  • The Northern Ireland (NI) employment rate (aged 16 to 64) in 2024 was estimated at 74.0%, an increase of 0.4 percentage points (pps) over the year (not statistically significant) and a significant increase of 6.3pps over the decade.
  • The number of employed persons aged 16 to 64 in 2024 was estimated at 871,000, an increase of 8,000 over the year and an increase of 85,000 over the decade.
  • The employment rate (16 to 64) for males in 2024 was estimated at 78.1% and the female rate was estimated at 69.9%.

Of those aged 16 to 64 who were employed in 2024, 52% (455,000) were male and 48% (416,000) were female. The changes by gender included:

  • The male (16 to 64) employment rate (78.1%) increased by 1.5pps over the year.
  • The female (16 to 64) employment rate (69.9%) decreased by 0.7pps over the year.

Figure 2: The NI employment rate has exceeded prepandemic levels

Northern Ireland employment rate (16 to 64), Jan to Dec 2014 to Jan to Dec 2024
Chart
Note: graph has a non-zero axis
Table
Year Male Employment Rate (%) Female Employment Rate (%) NI Employment Rate (%)
2014 72.4 63.1 67.7
2015 73.3 63.7 68.4
2016 74.3 64.5 69.4
2017 72.9 65.3 69.1
2018 73.5 66.5 70.0
2019 75.8 68.1 71.9
2020 74.6 65.2 69.8
2021 72.4 68.1 70.2
2022 75.4 68.5 71.9
2023 76.6 70.7 73.6
2024 78.1 69.9 74.0


Figure 2 shows the employment rates for NI and for males and females over the last 10 years. For the second consecutive year since the pandemic the NI employment rate in 2024 (74.0%) has exceeded the pre pandemic level of 71.9% in 2019. The employment rate has been higher for males than for females over the whole time period. The employment gap between males and females was the smallest in the series in 2021 (4.3pps) but has since widened to 8.2pps in 2024.


4. Economic inactivity

Economically inactive: People not in employment who have not been seeking work within the last 4 weeks and/or are unable to start work within the next 2 weeks.

Key findings

  • The Northern Ireland (NI) inactivity rate (aged 16 to 64) in 2024 was estimated at 24.6%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points (pps) over the year and a significant decrease of 2.9pps over the decade.
  • The number of inactive persons aged 16 to 64 in 2024 was estimated at 290,000, no change over the year and a decrease of 30,000 over the decade.
  • The inactivity rate (16 to 64) for males in 2024 was estimated at 20.1% and the female rate was estimated at 29.1%.

Of those aged 16 to 64 who were inactive in 2024, 40% (117,000) were male and 60% (173,000) were female. The changes by gender included:

  • The male (16 to 64) inactivity rate (20.1%) decreased by 1.1pps over the year.
  • The female (16 to 64) inactivity rate (29.1%) increased by 0.9pps over the year.

Figure 3: Female economic inactivity has been consistently higher than males

Northern Ireland economic inactivity rate (16 to 64), 2014 to Jan to Dec 2024
Chart
Note: graph has a non-zero axis
Table
Year Male Inactivity Rate (%) Female Inactivity Rate (%) NI Inactivity Rate (%)
2014 21.4 33.6 27.6
2015 20.8 33.2 27.1
2016 20.0 31.9 26.0
2017 22.6 32.5 27.6
2018 23.0 31.4 27.2
2019 22.0 30.2 26.2
2020 23.1 32.7 28.0
2021 24.2 29.7 27.0
2022 22.4 30.3 26.3
2023 21.2 28.2 24.7
2024 20.1 29.1 24.6


Figure 3 shows that the economic inactivity rate has decreased since 2023 by 0.1pps. The NI rate in 2024 (24.6%) is the lowest in the series. The economic inactivity rate for females has been consistently higher than males. The economic inactivity gap between females and males was the smallest in the series in 2021 (5.5pps), but has now increased to 9.0pps in 2024, however it is still smaller than the pre-pandemic rates.


5. Further information

Background

The LFS annual dataset used for this publication is derived from four consecutive quarters of the LFS.

Individuals in each wave are interviewed in five successive quarters, such that in any quarter, one wave will be receiving their first interview, one wave their second, and so on, with one receiving their fifth and final interview. The annual dataset is created by selecting the relevant cases from each quarter and combining them to create a dataset of unique cases. Selecting all wave one and five interviews allows the maximum number of respondents over a one-year period to be included whilst avoiding double counting. The resulting sample size of the 2024 dataset is approximately 11,000 individuals. The sample size has returned to the pre-pandemic sample size in 2019 (11,000 individuals).

The LFS collects information from a sample of the population living in households. To provide estimates for the entire population, the data must be grossed. This is achieved by creating grossing factors often referred to as weights, that can be applied to each sampled individual so that grossed results match published population data in terms of age distribution, sex and region of residence. Mid-year population estimates and projections are used to ensure that the LFS is grossed to the most up to date population data available.

LFS revisions

LFS microdata are routinely revised to incorporate the latest population estimates. Revisions were published in March 2019 (affecting LFS data from June-August 2011 to October-December 2018), October 2020 (affecting data for January-March 2020 to May-July 2020), July 2021 (affecting data from January-March 2020 to February-April 2021), to include new population weights using PAYE Real-Time Information data, June 2022 (affecting LFS data from January-March 2020 to January-March 2022) to include new population weights using PAYE Real-Time Information and with the introduction of the non-response bias adjustment to Northern Ireland data and February 2024 (affecting data from July-September 2022 to September-November 2023) to incorporate the latest estimates of the size and composition of the UK population.

The latest reweighting was introduced in December 2024, affecting data from January-March 2019 to July-September 2024, to make use of more recent population estimates.

In December 2024, the LFS estimates were reweighted from January-March 2019 to July to September 2024 using updated PAYE Real-Time Information data and with the introduction of the non-response bias adjustment to NI data. An overview of the Impact of Reweighting on the NI estimates of unemployment, employment, and economic inactivity is available on the NISRA website. This webpage also contains the detail on three previous LFS reweightings since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in October 2020, July 2021 and June 2022.

Reporting change and sampling variability

Reported change is calculated using unrounded data and is presented to 1 decimal place. When a change is less than 0.05pps, it is rounded to 0.0pps and the data is reported as unchanged.

The LFS is a sample survey and, as such, estimates obtained from it are subject to sampling variability. If we drew many samples each would give a different result.The ranges shown for the LFS data in the headline tables 1.1 to 1.3 represent 95% confidence intervals i.e. we would expect that in 95% of samples the range would contain the true value. See the Estimating and Reporting Uncertainty Paper for details.

If the annual change of an estimate is larger than the ‘confidence interval around the change’, the change is statistically significant. If none of the reported changes over the year were statistically significant, then the recorded changes did not exceed the variability expected from a sample survey of this size.

Publication thresholds

Thresholds are used to determine whether LFS data are suitably robust for publication. Estimates under a cell count of 3 are disclosive and therefore suppressed. Shaded estimates are based on a small sample size. This may result in less precise estimates, which should be used with caution, in particular should not be used to make statements on relative size when compared to similar values. Unshaded estimates are based on a larger sample size. This is likely to result in estimates of higher precision, although they will still be subject to some sampling variability.

LFS definitions

Employment: The definition of ILO employed applies to anyone (aged 16 or over) who has carried out at least one hour’s paid work in the week prior to interview, or has a job they are temporarily away from (e.g. on holiday). Also included are people who do unpaid work in a family business and people on Government-supported employment training schemes. In this publication employment estimates are for the working age (16 to 64) population.

Employment rate: The employment rate is the percentage of all working age (16 to 64) people who are employed.

Unemployment: The definition of unemployment used in the LFS is in accordance with that of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). ILO unemployed includes those without a job who were able to start work in the two weeks following their LFS interview and had either looked for work in the four weeks prior to interview or were waiting to start a job they had already obtained.

Unemployment rate: The unemployment rate is the percentage of economically active people (16 and over) who are unemployed.

Economic inactivity: Economic inactivity applies to those individuals who are neither in employment nor unemployed on the ILO measure.

Economic inactivity rate: The economic inactivity rate is the percentage of people of working age who are economically inactive.

6. Contacts

If you require further information about the figures contained in this publication or the accompanying tables, or would like to provide feedback on the publication content please contact the Labour Force Survey section using the details below:

Patrick O’Kane

Email: LFS@finance-ni.gov.uk
Web: Labour Force Survey

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7. Accredited Official Statistics Status

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in August 2010 following a full assessment of Labour Market Statistics for Northern Ireland against the Code of Practice for Statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and are therefore labelled as accredited official statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. For further information, please refer to the Office for Statistics Regulation accredited official statistics webpage.

As outlined above, 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 using the details in Section 4.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing or via the OSR website.