All tables associated with this report can be downloaded from the NISRA website.

1. Overview

1.1 Key points

The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in November 2023 was 796,400, a decrease of 0.1% over the month and an increase of 1.7% over the year.

Employment section 3.3
Earnings from the HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £2,064 in November 2023, a decrease of £38 (1.8%) over the month and an increase of £46 (2.3%) over the year.

Employment section 3.4
In November 2023, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 36,600 (3.8% of the workforce), a decrease of 0.3% from the previous month’s revised figure. The November 2023 claimant count remains 22.5% higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020.

Unemployment section 2.2
NISRA, acting on behalf of the Department for the Economy, received confirmation that 410 redundancies occurred in November 2023. Over the year December 2022 to November 2023, 2,590 redundancies were confirmed. There were 390 proposed redundancies in November 2023, taking the annual total to 4,200. Both annual totals were approximately three times more than the annual totals in the previous 12 months.

Unemployment section 2.3
Businesses reported that employee jobs increased over the quarter (0.9%) and increased over the year (2.4%) to 822,870 jobs in September 2023. The annual change was statistically significant.

Employment section 3.5
The latest NI seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (the proportion of economically active people age 16 and over who were unemployed) for the period August-October 2023 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 2.1%. This was a decrease of 0.6 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and a decrease of 0.6pps over the year.

Unemployment section 2.1
Line chart of seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (Age 16 and over) in NI. More detail on the trends is included in the text directly beside the charts and later in the report.
The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) increased by 1.7pps over the quarter and increased by 1.5pps over the year to 72.8%.

Employment section 3.1
Line chart of seasonally adjusted employment rate (Aged 16 to 64) in NI. More detail on the trends is included in the text directly beside the charts and later in the report.
The economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 who were not working and not seeking or available to work) decreased by 1.1pps over the quarter and decreased by 0.9pps over the year to 25.8%.

Economic inactivity section 4.1
Line chart of seasonally adjusted economic inactivity rates (Aged 16 to 64) in NI. More detail on the trends is included in the text directly beside the charts and later in the report.
The total number of weekly hours worked in NI was estimated at 28.7 million hours, an increase of 3.5% on the previous quarter and an increase of 3.7% on the equivalent period last year.

Employment section 3.2

1.2 Commentary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published an Update on the Labour Force Survey on 5th December which outlined a publication plan for the UK labour market release today, as well as plans for the LFS going forward. Accordingly, the ONS will not be publishing the unadjusted August to October 2023 Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates today.

Response rates to the Northern Ireland Labour Force Survey (LFS) continue to be robust and NISRA considers that the survey in Northern Ireland continues to provide the best possible indicators for the local labour market.

For further information, please see section 1.3 - Things users need to know.

The latest Labour Market release shows that over the year both payrolled employee numbers and earnings have increased, while employee jobs have also increased to a new series high. In addition, the Labour Force Survey employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity rates have all moved in a favourable direction when compared to one year ago.

The latest HMRC payroll data shows that payrolled employee numbers decreased by 0.1% over the month and increased by 1.7% over the year. Payrolled earnings decreased by 1.8% over the month but were 2.3% higher than November 2022.

Businesses reported, via the Quarterly Employment Survey, that employee jobs in NI increased over both the quarter and the year to a new series high of 822,870 jobs in September 2023. Quarterly increases in employee jobs were seen within the manufacturing, construction and services sectors to September 2023. Employee jobs within the other industries sector decreased over the quarter to September 2023. There were increases in employee jobs over the year within the manufacturing, other industries and services sectors to September 2023. Employee jobs within the construction sector decreased over the year to September 2023.

Households reported, via the Labour Force Survey (LFS), a 1.5pps increase in the employment rate over the year to August-October 2023, to 72.8%, while there were decreases over the year to August-October 2023 in both the economic inactivity rate (by 0.9pps to 25.8%) and the unemployment rate (by 0.6pps to 2.1%). None of these annual changes were statistically significant. August-October 2023 is the first time the unemployment, employment and inactivity rates have all returned to pre-pandemic levels recorded in November-January 2020.

The total number of hours worked in August-October 2023 increased by 3.7% over the year, to 28.7 million hours per week. This is just under the pre-pandemic position recorded in November-January 2020 (by 0.4%).

In addition, the Department was notified of 410 confirmed redundancies in November 2023, which brought the rolling twelve-month total of confirmed redundancies to 2,590. This was just over three times the figure for the previous year (850) and is the highest rolling twelve-month total since December 2021. There were also 390 proposed redundancies notified to the Department in November 2023, bringing the total over the year December 2022 to November 2023 to 4,200. This is the highest rolling twelve-month total since September 2021. Both the rolling twelve-month totals of proposed and confirmed redundancies are similar to the levels seen in the decade preceding the pandemic.

Finally, there was a small decrease of 0.3% in the claimant count estimate over the month to November 2023 from the revised figure for October 2023. The claimant count rate at November 2023 was 3.8% - the fifth consecutive month that the claimant count rate has been at this percentage and the twentieth consecutive month that this rate has been within the range 3.6% to 3.8%.

1.3 Things users need to know

Publication of Labour Force Survey estimates

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published an Update on the Labour Force Survey on 5th December which outlined a publication plan for the UK labour market release today, as well as plans for the LFS going forward. The ONS will not be publishing the unadjusted August to October 2023 Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates today. Similar to October and November, they have published a set of experimental adjusted headline estimates which are based on growth rates from Pay as You Earn Real-Time Information and the Claimant Count. The new series includes data for the latest four 3-monthly periods (May to July 2023, June to August 2023, July to September 2023 and August to October 2023) at a UK level. In addition, as in November, a UK regional breakdown was also published.

Response rates to the Northern Ireland LFS continue to be robust and NISRA considers that the survey in Northern Ireland continues to provide the best possible indicators for the local labour market.

NISRA will continue to work collaboratively with the ONS and other National Statistics Institutes across the UK on the production of key labour market indicators.

Labour Market Statistics – Transformation in Northern Ireland

NISRA aims to provide the most accurate and up-to-date statistics about the local labour market. To achieve this, a number of initiatives are being taken forward including greater use of administrative data sources such as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Pay As You Earn data and the transformation of the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Most of our labour market statistics will continue to be obtained from surveys completed by either households or businesses. Using surveys to collect labour market statistics is an effective and proven approach that delivers trusted results. In the next two years, NISRA are working towards transforming how we deliver key labour market surveys.

The transformation of the Labour Force Survey focuses on improving the design of the LFS and quality of its outputs. It will use enhanced address registers, improved sampling, and transform to a respondent led, online first approach supported by telephone collection and “knock to nudge” processes. To account for this, the transformation has also focused on a respondent-centred design of questions.

More details on the transformation plan will be published soon.

The goal of these initiatives is to reduce the time and effort needed to collect survey data, to improve overall response and to provide more accurate and relevant statistics.

Consultation on changes to NISRA’s Statistical Outputs

NISRA recently consulted on proposed changes to a range of statistical outputs. The consultation, which ended on 15 October, sought views from users and stakeholders to help NISRA to address the financial constraints imposed by the budget settlement for 2023-24, whilst minimising the impact on users and stakeholders. The full report on the outcome of the consultation, including users’ responses, actions planned and mitigations, can be found in this document.

LFS Reweighting - Update

The reweighting of the Labour Force Survey originally planned for October 2023 did not go ahead. Instead, the Office for National Statistics will be updating the weighting when the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) is introduced in March 2024 to ensure that the most consistent and up-to-date population estimates are used. They intend to use the next population estimates (for mid-year 2022) which were released on 23 November 2023, in weighting the TLFS.

1.4 Context

The Labour Market Report is a monthly overview of key labour market statistics for NI.

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.


2. Unemployment

2.1 Labour Force Survey 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 NI unemployment rate for August-October 2023 decreased over both the quarter and the year to 2.1%.
  • The most recent UK unemployment rate for May-July 2023 was estimated at 4.3%.

Figure 1: The latest NI unemployment rate is the lowest in the time series

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (Age 16 and over), Aug-Oct 2008 to Aug-Oct 2023
Chart
Table
Date Northern Ireland United Kingdom
Aug-Oct 2008 4.4 6.0
Nov-Jan 2009 5.7 6.5
Feb-Apr 2009 6.3 7.3
May-Jul 2009 6.4 7.9
Aug-Oct 2009 6.5 7.9
Nov-Jan 2010 6.3 7.7
Feb-Apr 2010 7.1 8.0
May-Jul 2010 6.7 7.8
Aug-Oct 2010 7.5 7.9
Nov-Jan 2011 7.9 7.9
Feb-Apr 2011 7.2 7.7
May-Jul 2011 7.4 8.0
Aug-Oct 2011 6.9 8.4
Nov-Jan 2012 6.4 8.4
Feb-Apr 2012 7.0 8.2
May-Jul 2012 8.2 8.0
Aug-Oct 2012 7.8 7.9
Nov-Jan 2013 8.3 7.8
Feb-Apr 2013 7.6 7.8
May-Jul 2013 6.9 7.7
Aug-Oct 2013 7.6 7.4
Nov-Jan 2014 7.4 7.2
Feb-Apr 2014 6.7 6.6
May-Jul 2014 6.6 6.1
Aug-Oct 2014 6.4 6.0
Nov-Jan 2015 6.0 5.7
Feb-Apr 2015 6.0 5.5
May-Jul 2015 6.1 5.5
Aug-Oct 2015 6.2 5.2
Nov-Jan 2016 6.1 5.1
Feb-Apr 2016 5.6 5.0
May-Jul 2016 5.3 4.9
Aug-Oct 2016 5.7 4.8
Nov-Jan 2017 5.8 4.7
Feb-Apr 2017 5.3 4.5
May-Jul 2017 5.0 4.3
Aug-Oct 2017 3.9 4.2
Nov-Jan 2018 3.3 4.3
Feb-Apr 2018 3.3 4.2
May-Jul 2018 3.8 4.0
Aug-Oct 2018 3.6 4.1
Nov-Jan 2019 3.5 3.9
Feb-Apr 2019 3.1 3.8
May-Jul 2019 2.8 3.8
Aug-Oct 2019 2.3 3.8
Nov-Jan 2020 2.4 3.9
Feb-Apr 2020 2.5 4.1
May-Jul 2020 3.2 4.3
Aug-Oct 2020 4.0 5.1
Nov-Jan 2021 4.2 5.1
Feb-Apr 2021 3.6 4.9
May-Jul 2021 4.5 4.6
Aug-Oct 2021 4.0 4.2
Nov-Jan 2022 3.2 4.0
Feb-Apr 2022 2.6 3.8
May-Jul 2022 2.9 3.6
Aug-Oct 2022 2.7 3.7
Nov-Jan 2023 2.4 3.7
Feb-Apr 2023 2.4 3.8
May-Jul 2023 2.7 4.3
Aug-Oct 2023 2.1 NA


Figure 1 shows the unemployment rates for NI and the UK over the last 15 years. During this period, the UK unemployment rate peaked at 8.4% in late-2011 while the NI unemployment rate peaked at 8.3% in early-2013. Following these peaks, both unemployment rates showed a downward trend until the end of 2019. The UK recorded a low point of 3.6% in May-July 2022. In NI, over the most recent year to August-October 2023, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.6pps to 2.1%, the lowest figure recorded in this time-series.

The NI unemployment rate (age 16 and over) for the period August-October 2023 was estimated at 2.1%. This was:

  • a decrease of 0.6pps over the quarter (statistically significant); and
  • a decrease of 0.6pps over the year (not statistically significant).

The number of unemployed people (age 16 and over) in NI was estimated at 19,000, which was:

  • down 5,000 from last quarter; and
  • down 5,000 from the same period last year.

UK regional comparison:

  • The NI unemployment rate (age 16 and over) of 2.1% was 2.1pps below the most recent UK rate (May-July 2023) of 4.3%.

2.2 Claimant count (experimental)

Claimant Count (experimental) consists of all people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) plus those Universal Credit (UC) claimants who were claiming principally for the reason of being unemployed. Some claimants are wholly unemployed and seeking work, while others may be employed but with low earnings that make them eligible for unemployment related benefit support.

Key findings

  • Over the month to November 2023, the NI claimant count decreased by 0.3% to 36,600.
  • In November 2023, 3.8% of the NI workforce were recorded on the claimant count.

Figure 2: The seasonally adjusted claimant count rate has remained relatively stable since April 2022

NI seasonally adjusted claimant count (experimental) monthly rates, November 2008 to November 2023
Chart
Note: graph has a non-zero axis
Table
Date Undercount Rate
Nov 2008 3.9
Dec 2008 4.1
Jan 2009 4.3
Feb 2009 4.7
Mar 2009 5.0
Apr 2009 5.2
May 2009 5.4
Jun 2009 5.6
Jul 2009 5.7
Aug 2009 5.8
Sep 2009 5.9
Oct 2009 6.0
Nov 2009 6.0
Dec 2009 6.1
Jan 2010 6.1
Feb 2010 6.1
Mar 2010 6.1
Apr 2010 6.1
May 2010 6.1
Jun 2010 6.2
Jul 2010 6.2
Aug 2010 6.3
Sep 2010 6.4
Oct 2010 6.4
Nov 2010 6.4
Dec 2010 6.4
Jan 2011 6.4
Feb 2011 6.5
Mar 2011 6.5
Apr 2011 6.5
May 2011 6.5
Jun 2011 6.6
Jul 2011 6.7
Aug 2011 6.7
Sep 2011 6.7
Oct 2011 6.7
Nov 2011 6.7
Dec 2011 6.7
Jan 2012 6.9
Feb 2012 6.9
Mar 2012 6.9
Apr 2012 7.0
May 2012 7.0
Jun 2012 7.1
Jul 2012 7.2
Aug 2012 7.1
Sep 2012 7.2
Oct 2012 7.2
Nov 2012 7.2
Dec 2012 7.3
Jan 2013 7.2
Feb 2013 7.2
Mar 2013 7.2
Apr 2013 7.2
May 2013 7.1
Jun 2013 7.0
Jul 2013 7.0
Aug 2013 7.0
Sep 2013 6.9
Oct 2013 6.8
Nov 2013 6.7
Dec 2013 6.6
Jan 2014 6.5
Feb 2014 6.4
Mar 2014 6.3
Apr 2014 6.2
May 2014 6.1
Jun 2014 6.0
Jul 2014 5.8
Aug 2014 5.8
Sep 2014 5.8
Oct 2014 5.7
Nov 2014 5.6
Dec 2014 5.5
Jan 2015 5.4
Feb 2015 5.2
Mar 2015 5.0
Apr 2015 4.9
May 2015 4.8
Jun 2015 4.8
Jul 2015 4.7
Aug 2015 4.6
Sep 2015 4.5
Oct 2015 4.4
Nov 2015 4.4
Dec 2015 4.3
Jan 2016 4.2
Feb 2016 4.2
Mar 2016 4.2
Apr 2016 4.1
May 2016 4.0
Jun 2016 4.0
Jul 2016 3.9
Aug 2016 3.8
Sep 2016 3.8
Oct 2016 3.7
Nov 2016 3.6
Dec 2016 3.6
Jan 2017 3.5
Feb 2017 3.5
Mar 2017 3.4
Apr 2017 3.4
May 2017 3.4
Jun 2017 3.3
Jul 2017 3.3
Aug 2017 3.3
Sep 2017 3.2
Oct 2017 3.2
Nov 2017 3.1
Dec 2017 3.2
Jan 2018 3.1
Feb 2018 3.2
Mar 2018 3.1
Apr 2018 3.1
May 2018 3.1
Jun 2018 3.1
Jul 2018 3.0
Aug 2018 3.0
Sep 2018 3.1
Oct 2018 3.1
Nov 2018 3.2
Dec 2018 3.2
Jan 2019 3.1
Feb 2019 3.1
Mar 2019 3.1
Apr 2019 3.1
May 2019 3.1
Jun 2019 3.1
Jul 2019 3.1
Aug 2019 3.0
Sep 2019 3.1
Oct 2019 3.2
Nov 2019 3.2
Dec 2019 3.2
Jan 2020 3.0
Feb 2020 3.0
Mar 2020 3.0
Apr 2020 5.7
May 2020 6.5
Jun 2020 6.3
Jul 2020 6.3
Aug 2020 6.3
Sep 2020 6.1
Oct 2020 6.0
Nov 2020 6.0
Dec 2020 5.9
Jan 2021 5.9
Feb 2021 6.1
Mar 2021 6.0
Apr 2021 6.0
May 2021 5.7
Jun 2021 5.4
Jul 2021 5.3
Aug 2021 5.1
Sep 2021 5.0
Oct 2021 4.9
Nov 2021 4.6
Dec 2021 4.4
Jan 2022 4.1
Feb 2022 4.0
Mar 2022 3.9
Apr 2022 3.8
May 2022 3.7
Jun 2022 3.7
Jul 2022 3.7
Aug 2022 3.6
Sep 2022 3.7
Oct 2022 3.7
Nov 2022 3.7
Dec 2022 3.7
Jan 2023 3.7
Feb 2023 3.6
Mar 2023 3.7
Apr 2023 3.8
May 2023 3.7
Jun 2023 3.7
Jul 2023 3.8
Aug 2023 3.8
Sep 2023 3.8
Oct 2023 3.8
Nov 2023 3.8


In November 2023, 36,600 people were recorded on the NI Claimant Count. This is 43.0% less than the recent peak in May 2020 and 22.5% more than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020. The increases in the claimant count between March 2020 and May 2020 can largely be attributed to the increase in the numbers of people becoming unemployed or having their hours reduced due to COVID, resulting in very low earnings below the administrative earnings threshold. This is the twentieth month where the claimant count rate was in the 3.6% to 3.8% range.

The NI seasonally adjusted claimant count was 36,600 (3.8% of the workforce) in November 2023, representing:

  • a decrease of 100 (0.3%) over the month
  • an increase of 700 (2.0%) over the year, and
  • an increase of 6,700 (22.5%) since March 2020.

Changes by sex:

  • an increase of 0.2% in males and a decrease of 1.0% in females over the month, and
  • a decrease of 4.6% in males and an increase of 12.3% in females over the year.

Changes by age:

  • Over the year, there has been a 1.5% increase in claimants aged 16 to 24, and an increase of 5.8% in claimaints aged 25 to 49. The number of claimants aged 50 and over has decreased by 2.9% over the year.
  • Compared to the pre-pandemic counts in March 2020, there have been increases for all agebands, however the largest increase was for those aged 25 to 49 (+31.1%).

Changes by Local Government District:

  • Over the year, the largest increases were seen in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (+9.2%) and Derry City and Strabane (+6.4%).
  • Similarly, the largest decreases were seen in Mid and East Antrim (-3.2%) and Antrim and Newtownabbey (-0.5%).

UK regional comparison:

  • The UK seasonally adjusted claimant count increased by 1.0% over the month to 1,575,000 (4.0% of the workforce).
  • The UK count is 41.6% below the recent peak in August 2020 and 28.1% above the pre-pandemic count in March 2020.

2.3 Redundancies

Redundancies: Companies must inform the Department of (a) impending redundancies of 20 or more employees and (b) subsequent confirmed redundancies. Since all proposed redundancies do not actually take place, the confirmed total provides a better indication of real job losses.

Key findings

  • 410 redundancies were confirmed in November 2023, taking the annual total to 2,590, more than triple the previous year (850).
  • There were 390 proposed redundancies in November 2023, taking the annual total to 4,200, which was almost three times the previous year (1,490).

Figure 3: Latest twelve month totals of proposed and confirmed redundancies are approximately three times the previous year

NI confirmed and proposed redundancies, Annual totals, Dec 2007-Nov 2008 to Dec 2022-Nov 2023
Chart
Table
Year Proposed Confirmed
2008 2,710 2,360
2009 5,810 4,700
2010 3,220 2,250
2011 1,730 1,680
2012 4,590 3,330
2013 2,360 2,230
2014 4,260 2,050
2015 3,630 1,950
2016 4,330 3,730
2017 2,760 1,850
2018 3,930 2,640
2019 4,000 3,090
2020 10,720 4,730
2021 2,280 3,070
2022 1,490 850
2023 4,200 2,590


Redundancy notification data generally shows a high degree of correlation between proposed and confirmed redundancies when grouped by year. The graph above shows that, generally the number of proposed redundancies is higher than confirmed redundancies indicating that not all proposed redundancies take place.

This month’s 390 proposed redundancies take the rolling twelve-month total to 4,200, the highest rolling twelve-month total since September 2021 and similar to the levels seen in the decade preceding the pandemic.

The November 2023 total of confirmed redundancies (410) was nearly seven times the monthly average seen in 2022 (60). The rolling twelve-month total for the most recent period (2,590) was the highest since December 2021 and is similar to levels seen before the pandemic.

Confirmed redundancies

During November 2023, the Department was notified of:

  • 410 confirmed redundancies, almost seven times the monthly average (60) during 2022.

Over the latest twelve month period there were:

  • 2,590 confirmed redundancies, which was approximately three times the figure for the previous year (850).
  • 490 confirmed redundancies (19.0%) in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles sector.
  • 450 confirmed redundancies (17.3%) in the administrative and support service activities sector.
  • 410 confirmed redundancies (15.9%) in the transportation and storage sector.

Proposed redundancies

During November 2023, the Department was notified of:

  • 390 proposed redundancies.

Over the last twelve months, to the end of November 2023, there were:

  • 4,200 proposed redundancies, which was approximately three times the figure for the previous year (1,490).
  • 810 proposed redundancies (19.2%) in the education sector.
  • 740 proposed redundancies (17.6%) in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles sector.
  • 510 proposed redundancies (12.1%) in the transportation and storage sector.


3. Employment

3.1 LFS 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 NI employment rate for August-October 2023 increased over both the quarter and year to 72.8%.
  • The most recent UK employment rate for May-July 2023 was estimated at 75.5%.

Figure 4: Similar trend in NI and UK employment rates over the last 15 years

Seasonally adjusted employment rate (Aged 16 to 64), Aug-Oct 2008 to Aug-Oct 2023
Chart
Note: graph has a non-zero axis
Table
Date Northern Ireland United Kingdom
Aug-Oct 2008 67.8 72.3
Nov-Jan 2009 66.0 72.2
Feb-Apr 2009 64.6 71.4
May-Jul 2009 64.2 70.6
Aug-Oct 2009 65.2 70.6
Nov-Jan 2010 65.6 70.4
Feb-Apr 2010 66.1 70.2
May-Jul 2010 66.4 70.6
Aug-Oct 2010 65.7 70.5
Nov-Jan 2011 66.0 70.5
Feb-Apr 2011 67.2 70.5
May-Jul 2011 67.1 70.2
Aug-Oct 2011 67.7 70.1
Nov-Jan 2012 68.1 70.2
Feb-Apr 2012 67.1 70.5
May-Jul 2012 66.8 71.1
Aug-Oct 2012 67.3 71.1
Nov-Jan 2013 66.4 71.4
Feb-Apr 2013 67.1 71.2
May-Jul 2013 67.5 71.5
Aug-Oct 2013 66.8 71.9
Nov-Jan 2014 67.6 72.1
Feb-Apr 2014 67.9 72.7
May-Jul 2014 67.9 72.8
Aug-Oct 2014 68.1 73.0
Nov-Jan 2015 67.6 73.3
Feb-Apr 2015 68.3 73.4
May-Jul 2015 67.9 73.5
Aug-Oct 2015 68.5 74.0
Nov-Jan 2016 68.8 74.1
Feb-Apr 2016 69.8 74.2
May-Jul 2016 69.7 74.5
Aug-Oct 2016 69.7 74.4
Nov-Jan 2017 69.1 74.5
Feb-Apr 2017 68.8 74.8
May-Jul 2017 68.3 75.3
Aug-Oct 2017 68.4 75.1
Nov-Jan 2018 69.5 75.3
Feb-Apr 2018 69.8 75.6
May-Jul 2018 70.0 75.5
Aug-Oct 2018 69.5 75.7
Nov-Jan 2019 70.9 76.1
Feb-Apr 2019 71.3 76.1
May-Jul 2019 72.0 76.1
Aug-Oct 2019 72.4 76.2
Nov-Jan 2020 72.3 76.5
Feb-Apr 2020 70.8 76.0
May-Jul 2020 69.8 75.6
Aug-Oct 2020 69.6 74.8
Nov-Jan 2021 67.9 74.6
Feb-Apr 2021 68.4 74.7
May-Jul 2021 68.7 75.1
Aug-Oct 2021 68.4 75.4
Nov-Jan 2022 68.7 75.4
Feb-Apr 2022 70.2 75.6
May-Jul 2022 69.6 75.4
Aug-Oct 2022 71.3 75.6
Nov-Jan 2023 71.8 75.7
Feb-Apr 2023 72.4 76.0
May-Jul 2023 71.1 75.5
Aug-Oct 2023 72.8


Figure 4 shows that, over the last 15 years, the NI employment rate has been consistently below the UK rate. Although showing a similar trend, the fall in the employment rate in NI between 2008 and 2009 was steeper than the fall in the UK rate. Similarly, the fall between 2019 and 2021 was steeper for NI than the UK as a whole. The most recent NI employment rate (72.8%) was the highest rate in the time series and was 0.5pps above the pre-pandemic rate of 72.3% recorded in November-January 2020.

The most recent NI employment rate (aged 16 to 64) for the period August-October 2023 was estimated at 72.8%. This was:

  • an increase of 1.7pps over the quarter (statistically significant); and
  • an increase of 1.5pps over the year (not statistically significant);

The number of employed people (age 16 and over) in NI was estimated at 882,000, which was:

  • up 21,000 from last quarter; and
  • up 21,000 from the same period last year.

Annual changes by sex (for those aged 16 to 64) included:

  • the male employment rate (76.6%) increased by 1.6pps over the year; and
  • the female employment rate (69.0%) increased by 1.4pps over the year.

UK regional comparison:

  • The NI employment rate (aged 16 to 64) of 72.8% was 2.7pps below the most recent UK rate (May-July 2023) of 75.5%.

Please note that the following estimates are not adjusted for seasonality.

Self-employment:

  • In August-October 2023, there were 114,000 self-employed, 10,000 more than a year ago, and 22,000 lower (16.5%) than the pre-pandemic figure in November-January 2020.
  • The proportion who were self-employed (12.9%) remains below the pre-pandemic proportion (15.5% recorded in November-January 2020).

Employment by Age:

  • In August-October 2023, those aged 25 to 34 had the highest employment rate (83.7%), whilst those aged 16 to 24 had the lowest (56.2%). These rates are similar to the pre-pandemic rates in November-January 2020 (82.3% and 56.4% respectively).

3.2 Total weekly hours

Please note that the following estimates are not adjusted for seasonality.

Key findings

  • The total number of weekly hours worked in August-October 2023 was estimated at 28.7 million hours per week.
  • This was an increase of 3.5% on the previous quarter and an increase of 3.7% on the same period last year.

Figure 5: Hours worked similar to pre-pandemic levels

Total weekly hours worked (Age 16 and over), Aug-Oct 2008 to Aug-Oct 2023
Chart
Note: graph has a non-zero axis
Table
Date Total weekly hours
Aug-Oct 2008 27.4
Nov-Jan 2009 25.2
Feb-Apr 2009 25.7
May-Jul 2009 25.1
Aug-Oct 2009 25.8
Nov-Jan 2010 25.0
Feb-Apr 2010 26.0
May-Jul 2010 25.5
Aug-Oct 2010 25.6
Nov-Jan 2011 24.8
Feb-Apr 2011 26.1
May-Jul 2011 25.8
Aug-Oct 2011 26.4
Nov-Jan 2012 25.3
Feb-Apr 2012 26.2
May-Jul 2012 26.1
Aug-Oct 2012 27.1
Nov-Jan 2013 25.6
Feb-Apr 2013 26.6
May-Jul 2013 26.8
Aug-Oct 2013 27.0
Nov-Jan 2014 26.0
Feb-Apr 2014 27.4
May-Jul 2014 27.2
Aug-Oct 2014 27.7
Nov-Jan 2015 26.6
Feb-Apr 2015 27.4
May-Jul 2015 26.6
Aug-Oct 2015 27.5
Nov-Jan 2016 26.4
Feb-Apr 2016 27.6
May-Jul 2016 27.1
Aug-Oct 2016 27.3
Nov-Jan 2017 27.3
Feb-Apr 2017 28.0
May-Jul 2017 26.8
Aug-Oct 2017 27.8
Nov-Jan 2018 28.0
Feb-Apr 2018 28.1
May-Jul 2018 28.7
Aug-Oct 2018 27.9
Nov-Jan 2019 28.5
Feb-Apr 2019 29.4
May-Jul 2019 29.2
Aug-Oct 2019 29.5
Nov-Jan 2020 28.8
Feb-Apr 2020 26.0
May-Jul 2020 23.6
Aug-Oct 2020 25.9
Nov-Jan 2021 24.8
Feb-Apr 2021 25.4
May-Jul 2021 26.2
Aug-Oct 2021 27.0
Nov-Jan 2022 26.2
Feb-Apr 2022 27.9
May-Jul 2022 27.4
Aug-Oct 2022 27.7
Nov-Jan 2023 27.7
Feb-Apr 2023 29.0
May-Jul 2023 27.8
Aug-Oct 2023 28.7


Figure 5 illustrates that, like many labour market indicators, total weekly hours worked shows a seasonal pattern. Outside of these seasonal variations, a trend of increasing weekly hours worked can be seen between 2009 and the end of 2019, prior to a sharp fall between November-January 2020 and May-July 2020. From early-2021 onwards, the increasing trend has returned, and at a steeper rate than before the pandemic. Hours worked in August-October 2023 were 2.4% below the peak of 29.5 million hours in August-October 2019.

The total number of weekly hours worked in NI in August-October 2023 was estimated at 28.7 million hours, this was:

  • an increase of 1.0 million hours (3.5%) on the previous quarter;
  • an increase of 1.0 million hours (3.7%) from the same period last year (not statistically significant); and
  • 0.1 million hours, or 0.4%, below the pre-pandemic (November-January 2020) figure.

The average number of weekly hours worked in August-October 2023 was estimated at 36.9 hours for those in full-time employment, and at 16.9 hours for those in part-time employment (for main jobs only, any second jobs are excluded). By sex:

  • for those in full-time employment, the average weekly hours worked for males was 39.0 hours, whereas for females it was 33.5 hours.
  • for those in part-time employment, the average weekly hours worked for males was 18.4 hours, whereas for females it was 16.4 hours.

3.3 Employees (experimental) from HMRC PAYE RTI

Payrolled employee counts (experimental) from the HMRC’s Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) system relate to employees paid by employers only, and do not include those who are self-employed. Data are based on where employees live and not the location of their place of work within the UK. As employees who were “furloughed” as part of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme programme should still have had their payments reported through this system, they should feature in these data.

Key findings

  • The number of payrolled employees in NI decreased by 0.1% over the month and increased by 1.7% over the year to November 2023.
  • In the UK, the number of payrolled employees was unchanged over the month and increased by 1.1% over the year to November 2023.

Figure 6: Number of payrolled employees increased over the month

NI payrolled employees (experimental) from PAYE RTI, July 2014 to November 2023
Chart
Note: graph has a non-zero axis
Table
Date Northern Ireland
Jul 2014 674,105
Aug 2014 675,774
Sep 2014 676,939
Oct 2014 678,048
Nov 2014 679,519
Dec 2014 679,533
Jan 2015 684,256
Feb 2015 686,017
Mar 2015 687,709
Apr 2015 690,560
May 2015 691,449
Jun 2015 693,789
Jul 2015 695,326
Aug 2015 696,843
Sep 2015 699,463
Oct 2015 699,854
Nov 2015 700,573
Dec 2015 700,674
Jan 2016 702,174
Feb 2016 702,585
Mar 2016 703,844
Apr 2016 703,939
May 2016 704,692
Jun 2016 704,774
Jul 2016 705,263
Aug 2016 706,266
Sep 2016 707,913
Oct 2016 709,103
Nov 2016 711,425
Dec 2016 712,876
Jan 2017 711,470
Feb 2017 713,112
Mar 2017 714,352
Apr 2017 716,012
May 2017 717,527
Jun 2017 718,954
Jul 2017 719,409
Aug 2017 721,511
Sep 2017 723,043
Oct 2017 724,218
Nov 2017 725,276
Dec 2017 729,101
Jan 2018 728,416
Feb 2018 729,804
Mar 2018 730,323
Apr 2018 732,103
May 2018 733,128
Jun 2018 733,877
Jul 2018 734,988
Aug 2018 736,617
Sep 2018 738,046
Oct 2018 739,925
Nov 2018 740,540
Dec 2018 741,773
Jan 2019 742,698
Feb 2019 743,833
Mar 2019 745,183
Apr 2019 746,748
May 2019 746,618
Jun 2019 745,530
Jul 2019 747,723
Aug 2019 747,873
Sep 2019 748,443
Oct 2019 749,000
Nov 2019 750,576
Dec 2019 750,479
Jan 2020 752,349
Feb 2020 753,586
Mar 2020 753,773
Apr 2020 743,255
May 2020 742,305
Jun 2020 741,736
Jul 2020 742,883
Aug 2020 738,111
Sep 2020 738,572
Oct 2020 737,827
Nov 2020 736,456
Dec 2020 736,826
Jan 2021 738,862
Feb 2021 739,039
Mar 2021 740,304
Apr 2021 742,268
May 2021 748,435
Jun 2021 755,543
Jul 2021 761,065
Aug 2021 760,478
Sep 2021 761,555
Oct 2021 762,766
Nov 2021 765,648
Dec 2021 768,019
Jan 2022 770,119
Feb 2022 771,054
Mar 2022 772,489
Apr 2022 775,149
May 2022 776,389
Jun 2022 776,336
Jul 2022 778,185
Aug 2022 781,015
Sep 2022 780,313
Oct 2022 781,408
Nov 2022 783,091
Dec 2022 784,584
Jan 2023 784,493
Feb 2023 785,903
Mar 2023 788,547
Apr 2023 788,107
May 2023 788,556
Jun 2023 789,219
Jul 2023 789,868
Aug 2023 791,567
Sep 2023 794,353
Oct 2023 796,904
Nov 2023 796,415


Between 2014 and 2020, the number of payrolled employees had generally been increasing each month, peaking at around 754,000 in March 2020. This was followed by a sharp decrease of almost 11,000 employees (1.4%) to April 2020. Employee numbers then remained at a similar level until April 2021 when they returned to a general upward trend once again. Following increases for six consecutive months, the most recent month saw a decrease of 0.1% in employee numbers.

Data from the latest HMRC PAYE RTI show that:

  • 796,400 people were payrolled employees in November 2023, a 0.1% decrease from the previous month and a 1.7% increase over the year.
  • in the UK, there were 30,204,200 payrolled employees in November 2023, no change from the previous month and a 1.1% increase over the year.
  • all regions of the UK increased over the year to November 2023, where changes ranged from an increase of 0.7% in Yorkshire and the Humber to an increase of 1.7% in Northern Ireland.
  • between March 2020 and November 2023, all regions of the UK recorded an increase in payrolled employees (4.2% overall). Northern Ireland recorded the largest increase (5.7%) while Scotland recorded the lowest (3.1%).

3.4 Earnings (experimental) from HMRC PAYE RTI

Median measures the amount earned by the average employee, i.e. the level of earnings at which half the population are above and half the population are below.

Key findings

  • Median monthly pay in NI decreased by 1.8% (£38) over the month to £2,064 in November 2023 and increased by 2.3% (£46) over the year.
  • UK median monthly pay increased by 1.2% (£27) over the month to £2,310 in November 2023 and increased by 5.3% (£117) over the year.

Figure 7: Median monthly pay increased over the month in both NI and the UK

Median Monthly Pay (experimental) from PAYE RTI, July 2014 to November 2023
Chart
Note: graph has a non-zero axis
Table
Date Northern Ireland UK
Jul 2014 1490 1598
Aug 2014 1488 1601
Sep 2014 1488 1601
Oct 2014 1494 1605
Nov 2014 1498 1608
Dec 2014 1514 1617
Jan 2015 1500 1620
Feb 2015 1494 1620
Mar 2015 1501 1618
Apr 2015 1500 1614
May 2015 1498 1615
Jun 2015 1492 1616
Jul 2015 1493 1619
Aug 2015 1488 1616
Sep 2015 1494 1618
Oct 2015 1496 1626
Nov 2015 1494 1630
Dec 2015 1497 1631
Jan 2016 1502 1638
Feb 2016 1508 1640
Mar 2016 1516 1646
Apr 2016 1516 1652
May 2016 1514 1652
Jun 2016 1516 1654
Jul 2016 1520 1659
Aug 2016 1526 1659
Sep 2016 1527 1664
Oct 2016 1523 1663
Nov 2016 1530 1666
Dec 2016 1528 1668
Jan 2017 1533 1668
Feb 2017 1534 1677
Mar 2017 1546 1686
Apr 2017 1542 1689
May 2017 1545 1691
Jun 2017 1556 1694
Jul 2017 1554 1693
Aug 2017 1560 1699
Sep 2017 1563 1704
Oct 2017 1565 1706
Nov 2017 1572 1713
Dec 2017 1577 1721
Jan 2018 1570 1724
Feb 2018 1590 1728
Mar 2018 1586 1731
Apr 2018 1592 1730
May 2018 1605 1750
Jun 2018 1612 1755
Jul 2018 1612 1751
Aug 2018 1619 1771
Sep 2018 1620 1761
Oct 2018 1631 1767
Nov 2018 1636 1778
Dec 2018 1632 1772
Jan 2019 1647 1782
Feb 2019 1688 1791
Mar 2019 1660 1801
Apr 2019 1669 1810
May 2019 1681 1817
Jun 2019 1678 1812
Jul 2019 1680 1819
Aug 2019 1681 1824
Sep 2019 1685 1819
Oct 2019 1691 1825
Nov 2019 1689 1831
Dec 2019 1672 1835
Jan 2020 1702 1850
Feb 2020 1710 1861
Mar 2020 1743 1847
Apr 2020 1655 1793
May 2020 1666 1799
Jun 2020 1715 1828
Jul 2020 1741 1859
Aug 2020 1747 1880
Sep 2020 1766 1897
Oct 2020 1777 1911
Nov 2020 1782 1914
Dec 2020 1784 1924
Jan 2021 1784 1928
Feb 2021 1792 1942
Mar 2021 1795 1950
Apr 2021 1813 1965
May 2021 1809 1965
Jun 2021 1833 1974
Jul 2021 1877 1978
Aug 2021 1821 1986
Sep 2021 1847 2004
Oct 2021 1854 2010
Nov 2021 1862 2018
Dec 2021 1904 2034
Jan 2022 1935 2048
Feb 2022 1916 2054
Mar 2022 1926 2078
Apr 2022 1932 2079
May 2022 1945 2089
Jun 2022 1953 2102
Jul 2022 1955 2109
Aug 2022 1973 2119
Sep 2022 1962 2142
Oct 2022 1977 2149
Nov 2022 2018 2193
Dec 2022 2012 2188
Jan 2023 2036 2194
Feb 2023 2054 2208
Mar 2023 2107 2218
Apr 2023 2055 2230
May 2023 2082 2262
Jun 2023 2098 2303
Jul 2023 2087 2267
Aug 2023 2095 2280
Sep 2023 2095 2270
Oct 2023 2102 2283
Nov 2023 2064 2310


Median monthly pay in NI and the UK increased overall between mid-2015 and early 2020. In NI, a sharp increase of 1.9% in median pay was recorded between February and March 2020, followed by a decrease of 5.0% between March and April 2020. The UK also saw a decrease between March and April 2020 of 2.9%. These monthly decreases coincided with decreases in the number of paid employees recorded in April 2020.

From April 2020, median employee pay has shown an upward trend, however the rate of growth has slowed significantly in recent months in both NI and the UK. Whilst earnings have been generally increasing since April, the most recent month saw a decrease of 1.8% in NI compared to a 1.2% increase in the UK. This equates to a 2.3% increase in NI earnings over the year while the UK as a whole saw an increase of 5.3%. NI earnings are now 11% below UK earnings, the largest difference on record.

Data from the latest HMRC PAYE RTI show that:

  • NI had a median monthly pay of £2,064 in November 2023, which was a decrease of 1.8% on the previous month and an increase of 2.3% from November 2022.
  • UK had a median monthly pay of £2,310 in November 2023, which was an increase of 1.2% on the previous month and an increase of 5.3% from November 2022.
  • NI had the smallest annual increase of the 12 UK regions, and has the lowest median monthly pay in the UK. London had the highest median pay (£2,725).
  • Since March 2020, earnings in NI have increased by 18.4%, 6.7pps lower than the increase in the UK (25.1%) and the lowest of all the UK regions.

3.5 Quarterly Employment Survey (QES)

Survey date 04 September 2023

QES employee: anyone aged 16 years or over that is directly paid from a business’s payroll for carrying out a full-time or part-time job or being on a training scheme in NI. The QES counts the number of jobs rather than the number of persons with jobs.

Key findings

  • Employee jobs in NI increased over both the quarter and the year to a new series high of 822,870 jobs in September 2023.
  • September 2023 marks the eleventh quarterly increase in employee jobs since March 2021.

Figure 8: Employee jobs are increasing

NI index of employee jobs, September 2008 to September 2023 (Quarter 3)
Chart
Note: graph has a non-zero axis
Table
Quarter NI UK
Q3 2008 100.0 100.0
Q4 2008 99.2 99.2
Q1 2009 98.3 98.4
Q2 2009 97.6 97.8
Q3 2009 97.4 97.2
Q4 2009 97.8 96.7
Q1 2010 97.5 96.5
Q2 2010 97.2 96.6
Q3 2010 96.9 96.4
Q4 2010 96.4 96.3
Q1 2011 96.1 96.6
Q2 2011 95.7 96.4
Q3 2011 95.7 96.6
Q4 2011 95.1 96.8
Q1 2012 95.0 97.7
Q2 2012 95.3 97.3
Q3 2012 95.6 97.0
Q4 2012 95.6 97.1
Q1 2013 95.6 97.7
Q2 2013 96.3 98.1
Q3 2013 97.0 98.5
Q4 2013 96.9 99.2
Q1 2014 97.7 99.9
Q2 2014 97.6 101.0
Q3 2014 99.2 101.6
Q4 2014 99.1 102.1
Q1 2015 99.5 102.9
Q2 2015 99.9 103.2
Q3 2015 100.6 103.7
Q4 2015 100.3 104.1
Q1 2016 100.5 104.7
Q2 2016 100.9 105.2
Q3 2016 101.2 105.4
Q4 2016 101.7 105.5
Q1 2017 102.3 106.2
Q2 2017 103.1 106.2
Q3 2017 103.3 106.6
Q4 2017 104.3 106.5
Q1 2018 104.8 106.7
Q2 2018 105.2 106.7
Q3 2018 105.4 107.3
Q4 2018 106.3 107.5
Q1 2019 106.5 107.9
Q2 2019 106.6 108.2
Q3 2019 107.0 108.7
Q4 2019 107.1 108.5
Q1 2020 107.1 109.0
Q2 2020 106.8 108.0
Q3 2020 106.0 106.6
Q4 2020 105.8 106.5
Q1 2021 105.8 107.2
Q2 2021 105.8 108.2
Q3 2021 107.0 109.3
Q4 2021 107.5 109.9
Q1 2022 109.5 110.7
Q2 2022 109.9 111.5
Q3 2022 110.4 111.8
Q4 2022 111.3 112.7
Q1 2023 111.8 113.8
Q2 2023 112.0 114.1
Q3 2023 113.1 114.7


Figure 8 shows estimated seasonally adjusted employee jobs, indexed to allow comparison between NI and the UK. The UK reached a low point in December 2010, more than a year before the NI low in March 2012. There are now 131,790 more employee jobs in NI since the lowest point in March 2012, and 5,225,000 more jobs in the UK since December 2010.

The seasonally adjusted employee jobs total in Northern Ireland at September 2023 was 822,870, which was:

  • an increase of 0.9% (7,730 jobs) over the quarter from the revised June 2023 estimate of 815,140; and
  • an increase of 2.4% (19,340 jobs) over the year from the revised September 2022 estimate of 803,530.
  • While the quarterly change in employee jobs was not found to be statistically significant, the change over the year was statistically significant.


4. Economic inactivity

4.1 LFS 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 economic inactivity rate decreased over both the quarter and the year to 25.8%.
  • The most recent UK economic inactivity rate for May-July 2023 was estimated at 21.1%.

Figure 9: NI economic inactivity consistently above UK average

Seasonally adjusted economic inactivity rates (Aged 16 to 64), Aug-Oct 2008 to Aug-Oct 2023
Chart
Note: graph has a non-zero axis
Table
Date Northern Ireland United Kingdom
Aug-Oct 2008 29.0 23.1
Nov-Jan 2009 30.0 22.7
Feb-Apr 2009 31.0 22.9
May-Jul 2009 31.3 23.3
Aug-Oct 2009 30.2 23.3
Nov-Jan 2010 30.0 23.6
Feb-Apr 2010 28.7 23.6
May-Jul 2010 28.7 23.3
Aug-Oct 2010 28.8 23.3
Nov-Jan 2011 28.2 23.3
Feb-Apr 2011 27.5 23.5
May-Jul 2011 27.4 23.5
Aug-Oct 2011 27.2 23.3
Nov-Jan 2012 27.2 23.2
Feb-Apr 2012 27.7 23.1
May-Jul 2012 27.0 22.6
Aug-Oct 2012 26.9 22.7
Nov-Jan 2013 27.5 22.4
Feb-Apr 2013 27.2 22.6
May-Jul 2013 27.4 22.4
Aug-Oct 2013 27.5 22.3
Nov-Jan 2014 26.9 22.2
Feb-Apr 2014 27.0 22.1
May-Jul 2014 27.1 22.3
Aug-Oct 2014 27.1 22.2
Nov-Jan 2015 28.0 22.2
Feb-Apr 2015 27.2 22.2
May-Jul 2015 27.5 22.1
Aug-Oct 2015 26.9 21.9
Nov-Jan 2016 26.6 21.8
Feb-Apr 2016 25.9 21.8
May-Jul 2016 26.3 21.6
Aug-Oct 2016 25.9 21.7
Nov-Jan 2017 26.5 21.7
Feb-Apr 2017 27.2 21.6
May-Jul 2017 27.9 21.3
Aug-Oct 2017 28.7 21.5
Nov-Jan 2018 28.0 21.2
Feb-Apr 2018 27.7 21.0
May-Jul 2018 27.1 21.2
Aug-Oct 2018 27.8 21.0
Nov-Jan 2019 26.4 20.7
Feb-Apr 2019 26.4 20.8
May-Jul 2019 25.8 20.8
Aug-Oct 2019 25.9 20.8
Nov-Jan 2020 25.9 20.4
Feb-Apr 2020 27.3 20.7
May-Jul 2020 27.8 20.9
Aug-Oct 2020 27.4 21.1
Nov-Jan 2021 29.0 21.3
Feb-Apr 2021 29.0 21.4
May-Jul 2021 27.9 21.2
Aug-Oct 2021 28.7 21.3
Nov-Jan 2022 28.9 21.4
Feb-Apr 2022 27.8 21.3
May-Jul 2022 28.2 21.7
Aug-Oct 2022 26.7 21.5
Nov-Jan 2023 26.4 21.3
Feb-Apr 2023 25.8 21.0
May-Jul 2023 26.9 21.1
Aug-Oct 2023 25.8


Figure 9 shows that, over the last 15 years, economic inactivity in NI has been consistently higher than the UK average with more variability in economic inactivity in NI than the UK. Economic inactivity in NI peaked during this time-period in 2009 at over 31%, compared to the lower peak in the UK rate of almost 24% at the beginning of 2010.

During the ten years to 2019, the trend for both the UK and NI economic inactivity rates was generally downward. From the onset of the COVID pandemic, both UK and NI economic inactivity rates increased. The NI rate for August-October 2023 is slightly lower than the pre-pandemic period (November-January 2020) by 0.1pps and has seen a decrease of 0.9pps over the year.

The economic inactivity rate (aged 16 to 64) for August-October 2023 was estimated at 25.8%, which was:

  • a decrease of 1.1pps over the quarter (not statistically significant); and
  • a decrease of 0.9pps over the year (not statistically significant).

The number of economically inactive people (age 16 and over) in NI was estimated at 589,000, which was:

  • down 14,000 from last quarter; and
  • down 12,000 from the same period last year.

Annual changes by sex (for those aged 16 to 64) included:

  • a decrease of 0.3pps over the year in the male economic inactivity rate to 21.6%; and
  • a decrease of 1.4pps over the year in the female economic inactivity rate to 29.9%.

UK regional comparison:

  • The NI economic inactivity rate (aged 16 to 64) of 25.8% was 4.7pps above the most recent UK rate (May-July 2023) of 21.1%.

Please note that the following estimates are not adjusted for seasonality.

Reasons for inactivity:

  • In August-October 2023, the most common reason for economic inactivity among the working age population was ‘long-term sick’. There were 125,000 ‘long-term sick’, accounting for 41.5% of the total economically inactive (aged 16 to 64), or 10.7% of the working age population. This was 9,000 (+8.1%) higher than the same period last year and 23,000 (+22.1%) higher than the pre-pandemic figure in November-January 2020.
  • Compared to the pre-pandemic figures in November-January 2020, there has been an increase in the number of ‘long-term sick’ (+23,000) and ‘student’ (+4,000), however the total for ‘family and home care’ (-15,000) has decreased. The ‘retired’ total has remained the same.

Inactivity by Age:

  • In August-October 2023, those aged 65 and over (283,000) made up the highest proportion (48.3%) of the total economically inactive (age 16 and over), with those aged 25 to 34 (36,000) making up the lowest proportion (6.1%) across the age groups.
  • Those aged 65 and over had the highest economic inactivity rate (89.5%), whilst those aged 25 to 34 had the lowest (14.9%). These rates are similar to the pre-pandemic rates in November-January 2020 (89.6% and 15.4% respectively).


5. Further Information

General Information

The Labour Market Report is a monthly overview of key labour market statistics for NI. It includes figures from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), claimant count, redundancies counts, and HMRC PAYE statistics. The LMR also contains an overview from the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) in March, June, September and December. More information about the data sources can be found in the LMR Supplementary Document.

Comparison between data sources

Although the broad concepts are similar across sources contained within this release, differences in reference periods, definitions, and methodology exist which impact the interpretation of the statistics. Additional information can be found in the LMR supplementary document, including comparisons between:

  • LFS unemployment and experimental claimant count
  • LFS employment and the number of paid employees from HMRC PAYE RTI
  • LFS employment and QES employee jobs
  • HMRC PAYE RTI and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)
  • Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) and HMRC PAYE RTI

More information is also available in the comparison of labour market data sources article by ONS.

Seasonal adjustment

All estimates discussed in this report are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise stated. Seasonal adjustment removes the effects of seasonal factors and the arrangement of the calendar and allows comparison over months or quarters.

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 Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a sample survey. Estimates obtained from it are subject to sampling variability which means if we drew many samples, each would give a different result. The sampling variability of the Northern Ireland estimates can be found in Table 2.49 of the LFS monthly tables, published alongside this report on the NISRA website. We would expect that in 95% of samples the range would contain the true value.

Alternative release time

The NI Labour Market Report is released at 7am. This is an ‘alternative release time’ agreed by the Office for Statistics Regulation and differs from the standard 9.30am release time for the majority of statistical reports.

Labour Force Survey

Response rates

The methodology for determining the response rate for the NI LFS has been revised to follow the same methodology as that used in ONS. This allows for the comparability of the response rate against the UK.

The achieved sample size for the Northern Ireland Labour Force Survey during July to September 2023 was 2,465, a decrease of 2.2% from the same period last year.

Table 1: LFS Response rates, July-September 2021 to July-September 2023

Period NI Response Rate (%) UK Response Rate (%)
July-September 2021 24.6 26.8
October-December 2021 28.2 26.6
January-March 2022 33.3 27.2
April-June 2022 43.3 27.8
July-September 2022 46.4 26.1
October-December 2022 47.4 23.6
January-March 2023 48.0 21.5
April-June 2023 47.4 19.6
July-September 2023 50.5 21.3

Please note, response rates are updated quarterly.

LFS revisions

LFS microdata are routinely revised to incorporate the latest population estimates. The population totals used for the latest LFS estimates use projected growth rates from RTI data for UK, EU and non-EU populations based on 2021 patterns. The total population used for the LFS therefore does not take into account any changes in migration, birth rates, death rates etc. since June 2021 and hence levels estimates may be under- or over-estimating the true values and should be used with caution. Estimates of rates will, however, be robust.

In June 2022, the LFS estimates were reweighted from January-March 2020 to January-March 2022 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 two previous LFS reweightings since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in October 2020 and July 2021.

LFS comparisons

Estimates of employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity are derived from the LFS. The most robust estimates of short-term movements in these estimates are obtained by comparing the estimates over separate three-month periods, commonly known as 3 month rolling averages. For example, estimates relating to August-October 2023 should be compared with the estimates for May-July 2023. This provides a more robust estimate than comparing with the estimates for July-September 2023, as the August and September data are included within both estimates. The LFS is sampled such that it is representative of the NI population over a three-month period, not for a single month period.

Suppression and shading

Estimates based on fewer than 3 events are suppressed to prevent disclosure. In tables, shading is used to draw attention to lower statistical quality/precision of estimates that are based on a smaller sample size. Shaded estimates still provide the best estimate of the size of a group but comparison across time or between groups with similar values should be avoided. 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.

Due to the small sample sizes and the effect this may have on the precision of the figures, estimates for long-term unemployment, youth unemployment and annual changes in unemployment by sex have not been included in this bulletin this month.

Publication of alternative labour market statistics

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been facing the challenge of falling response rates for household surveys, as have other comparable countries. This issue became more acute in the Labour Force Survey (LFS) data collected for August 2023 leading to the LFS estimates due to be published in October 2023 being suspended because of quality concerns. Instead, from October 2023, a set of experimental adjusted headline estimates which are based on growth rates from Pay as You Earn Real-Time Information and the Claimant Count have been published. Further details on the methodology and estimates from the experimental series can be found on the ONS labour market statistics webpage.

Claimant Count

Experimental claimant count

This measure is categorised as experimental as the statistics are in the testing phase and not yet fully developed. ONS have produced a useful Guide to Experimental Statistics, and an FAQ document explaining the difference between the previous measure and this experimental measure is available on the changes to the claimant count page.

Claimant count revisions

Seasonally adjusted estimates are revised on a regular basis. Each month the previous estimate is revised in line with the current seasonal adjustment model, giving the best estimate of change for the latest period.

Also, a seasonal adjustment review takes place once a year. Typically, the last 3 years are revised and this takes the most recent year of data into account when determining the seasonal adjustment model. These revisions affect only the seasonally adjusted data.

Claimant count undercount correction note

A number of claims across the UK to the UC element of the Claimant Count were coded to incorrect locations for data relating to December 2018 to November 2019. This has been corrected for December 2019 onwards, but previous periods remain affected. The impact of the revision on NI for December 2019 was an increase of fewer than 1,000 cases.

Percentage of workforce

The number of claimants as a percentage of workforce jobs plus claimants. Workforce jobs are the sum of employee jobs, self-employment jobs, HM Forces, and government-supported trainees. This measure is only available at the NI level.

Redundancies

To prevent the potential identification of individual businesses, redundancy totals relating to fewer than 3 businesses are not disclosed. The Statistical Disclosure Control Policy is available on the NISRA website.

HMRC PAYE Real Time Information

Age breakdowns are published in January, April, July and October, and industry sector breakdowns published in February, May, August and November. Data are subject to revisions.

Further information on UK monthly pay, UK pay distribution, methodology, data source, collection, and coverage of PAYE RTI data, as well as information on imputation and revisions can be found on the Earnings and employment from PAYE page.

Quarterly Employment Survey

QES revisions

QES estimates are revised quarterly to reflect the latest information provided to the Department by employers. The June 2023 seasonally adjusted estimate first published in September 2023 has subsequently been revised up by 0.2%. For further details, please see the Quarterly Employment Survey revisions page.


The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency wishes to thank the participating households and businesses for their co-operation in agreeing to take part in the surveys and for facilitating the collection of the relevant data.


6. Contacts

For further information contact:

Labour Force Survey, Claimant Count, and Redundancies

Mark McFetridge
Email:

Quarterly Employment Survey

Ciaran Kerr
Email:

HMRC PAYE

Ashleigh Warwick
Email:


Web: Labour Market and Social Welfare
Twitter: NISRA

National Statistics logo

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 6.

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