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 April 2024 was 799,600, a decrease of 0.3% over the month and an increase of 1.3% over the year.

Employment section 3.3
Earnings from HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £2,192 in April 2024, an increase of £23 (1.1%) over the month and an increase of £140 (6.8%) over the year.

Employment section 3.4
In April 2024, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 36,200 (3.7% of the workforce), an increase of 0.1% from the previous month’s revised figure. The April 2024 claimant count remains 21.1% 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 80 redundancies occurred in April 2024. Over the year May 2023 to April 2024, 2,380 redundancies were confirmed. There were 140 proposed redundancies in April 2024, taking the annual total to 4,010.

Unemployment section 2.3
The latest NI seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (the proportion of economically active people aged 16 and over who were unemployed) for the period January-March 2024 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 2.1%. This was a decrease of 0.4 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and a decrease of 0.3pps 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 0.5pps over the quarter and increased by 1.0pps over the year to 71.8%.

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 0.2pps over the quarter and decreased by 0.8pps over the year to 26.6%.

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 28.3 million hours, an increase of 2.7% on the previous quarter and a decrease of 0.6% on the equivalent period last year.

Employment section 3.2

1.2 Commentary

The latest Labour Market release shows that over the year both payrolled employee numbers and earnings have increased. In addition, all of the Labour Force Survey headline measures have improved over the year, with the unemployment and economic inactivity rates both decreasing and the employment rate increasing.

The latest HMRC payroll data shows that payrolled employee numbers decreased by 0.3% over the month and increased by 1.3% over the year. Payrolled earnings increased by 1.1% over the month and were 6.8% higher than April 2023.

Households reported, via the Labour Force Survey (LFS), over the year to January-March 2024, a 1.0pps increase in the employment rate (to 71.8%), a 0.8pps decrease in the economic inactivity rate (to 26.6%) and a 0.3pps decrease in the unemployment rate (to 2.1%). None of these annual changes were statistically significant.

The total number of hours worked in January-March 2024 decreased by 0.6% over the year, to 28.3 million hours per week. This is 2.7% below the pre-pandemic position recorded in October-December 2019.

In April 2024, the Department was notified of 80 confirmed redundancies, bringing the rolling twelve-month total of confirmed redundancies to 2,380, just over double the figure for the previous year (1,160). There were also 140 proposed redundancies reported to the Department in April 2024, which brought the annual total of proposed redundancies to 4,010, almost double the figure for the previous year (2,090). Although the rolling twelve-month totals of proposed and confirmed redundancies are around double that of the previous year, both are similar to the levels seen in the decade preceding the pandemic.

Finally, there was a small increase of 0.1% in the claimant count estimate over the month to April 2024 from the revised figure for March 2024. The claimant count rate for April 2024 was 3.7% - unchanged from the revised rate for March 2024. In addition, with the exception of September 2023 (3.8%), the claimant count rate has remained at 3.7% since March 2023.

1.3 Things users need to know

Labour Market Statistics – Transformation in Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) is currently in the process of transforming the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and associated labour market statistics for Northern Ireland. This work is being advanced alongside work by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to transform the LFS in GB.

On 10th April 2024, NISRA published The Transformation of Labour Market Statistics in Northern Ireland – NISRA User Information Paper April 2024 which provides an update on the work as at this date. It provides background on the current LFS along with an overview of NISRA’s Social Surveys, outlining both the potential and necessity to change how such surveys are conducted in the future. The paper also details how the new Labour Market Survey (LMS) will follow an online first approach, highlighting how both the content of the questionnaire and supporting field operation have been tailored to meet local needs. As the paper outlines, the new online survey was initiated in October 2023 and is currently delivering encouraging Wave 1 response rates that are exceeding those secured through the LFS.

Alongside this, an LMS & LFS Mapping Document - April 2024 has been published. This document compares all of the questionnaire variables in the LMS to the LFS and highlights differences and similarities between them. More information on the Transformation of the Labour Market Statistics in NI can be found at Labour Force Survey Transformation.

If on reading the information paper and associated documentation you have any queries regarding NISRA’s work in this space we would love to hear from you. All queries should be sent to: Labourmarketstatistics@nisra.gov.uk.

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 January-March 2024 decreased over both the quarter and the year to 2.1%.
  • The most recent UK unemployment rate for January-March 2024 was estimated at 4.3%.

Figure 1: The latest NI unemployment rate remains historically low

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (Age 16 and over), Jan-Mar 2009 to Jan-Mar 2024
Chart
Table
Date Northern Ireland United Kingdom
Jan-Mar 2009 6.2 7.1
Apr-Jun 2009 6.5 7.8
Jul-Sep 2009 7.0 7.8
Oct-Dec 2009 5.9 7.8
Jan-Mar 2010 6.9 8.0
Apr-Jun 2010 6.6 7.9
Jul-Sep 2010 6.9 7.8
Oct-Dec 2010 7.9 7.9
Jan-Mar 2011 7.3 7.8
Apr-Jun 2011 7.3 7.9
Jul-Sep 2011 7.3 8.3
Oct-Dec 2011 7.0 8.4
Jan-Mar 2012 6.7 8.2
Apr-Jun 2012 7.7 8.0
Jul-Sep 2012 7.7 7.9
Oct-Dec 2012 7.6 7.8
Jan-Mar 2013 8.0 7.9
Apr-Jun 2013 7.3 7.8
Jul-Sep 2013 7.4 7.6
Oct-Dec 2013 7.3 7.2
Jan-Mar 2014 7.1 6.8
Apr-Jun 2014 6.5 6.3
Jul-Sep 2014 6.2 6.0
Oct-Dec 2014 5.8 5.7
Jan-Mar 2015 6.2 5.6
Apr-Jun 2015 6.3 5.6
Jul-Sep 2015 6.0 5.4
Oct-Dec 2015 5.9 5.1
Jan-Mar 2016 6.1 5.1
Apr-Jun 2016 5.8 5.0
Jul-Sep 2016 5.6 4.9
Oct-Dec 2016 5.4 4.8
Jan-Mar 2017 5.3 4.6
Apr-Jun 2017 5.1 4.5
Jul-Sep 2017 4.0 4.3
Oct-Dec 2017 4.1 4.4
Jan-Mar 2018 3.0 4.3
Apr-Jun 2018 3.7 4.1
Jul-Sep 2018 3.8 4.2
Oct-Dec 2018 3.8 4.1
Jan-Mar 2019 2.9 3.9
Apr-Jun 2019 3.1 4.0
Jul-Sep 2019 2.5 3.9
Oct-Dec 2019 2.4 3.9
Jan-Mar 2020 2.5 4.1
Apr-Jun 2020 2.8 4.2
Jul-Sep 2020 3.4 5.0
Oct-Dec 2020 3.8 5.3
Jan-Mar 2021 4.2 5.1
Apr-Jun 2021 4.3 4.8
Jul-Sep 2021 4.3 4.4
Oct-Dec 2021 3.2 4.2
Jan-Mar 2022 2.6 3.9
Apr-Jun 2022 2.7 3.9
Jul-Sep 2022 3.3 3.8
Oct-Dec 2022 2.5 3.9
Jan-Mar 2023 2.4 4.0
Apr-Jun 2023 2.6 4.2
Jul-Sep 2023 2.2 4.1
Oct-Dec 2023 2.6 3.8
Jan-Mar 2024 2.1 4.3


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 8.0% in early-2013. Following these peaks, both unemployment rates showed a downward trend until the end of 2019. After rises during the early part of the pandemic, both rates have since decreased to historic lows. Over the most recent year to January-March 2024 the NI unemployment rate decreased by 0.3pps to 2.1%, the lowest-ever rate in the time series, while the UK unemployment rate increased by 0.3pps to 4.3%.

The NI unemployment rate (age 16 and over) for the period January-March 2024 was estimated at 2.1%. This was:

  • a decrease of 0.4pps over the quarter (not statistically significant); and
  • a decrease of 0.3pps 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 4,000 over the quarter; and
  • down 2,000 from the same period last year.

UK regional comparison:

  • The NI unemployment rate (age 16 and over) of 2.1% was 2.2pps below the most recent UK rate of 4.3%.
  • the lowest of the twelve UK regions.

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 April 2024, the NI claimant count increased by 0.1% to 36,200.
  • In April 2024, 3.7% 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, April 2009 to April 2024
Chart

Note: graph has a non-zero axis

Table
Date Undercount Rate
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 5.9
May 2021 5.7
Jun 2021 5.4
Jul 2021 5.3
Aug 2021 5.1
Sep 2021 5.0
Oct 2021 4.8
Nov 2021 4.6
Dec 2021 4.4
Jan 2022 4.1
Feb 2022 4.0
Mar 2022 3.9
Apr 2022 3.7
May 2022 3.7
Jun 2022 3.7
Jul 2022 3.7
Aug 2022 3.6
Sep 2022 3.6
Oct 2022 3.6
Nov 2022 3.7
Dec 2022 3.8
Jan 2023 3.7
Feb 2023 3.6
Mar 2023 3.7
Apr 2023 3.7
May 2023 3.7
Jun 2023 3.7
Jul 2023 3.7
Aug 2023 3.7
Sep 2023 3.8
Oct 2023 3.7
Nov 2023 3.7
Dec 2023 3.7
Jan 2024 3.7
Feb 2024 3.7
Mar 2024 3.7
Apr 2024 3.7


In April 2024, 36,200 people were recorded on the NI Claimant Count. This is 43.6% less than the recent peak in May 2020 and 21.1% 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. With the exception of September 2023 (3.8%), the claimant count rate has remained at 3.7% since March 2023.

The NI seasonally adjusted claimant count was 36,200 (3.7% of the workforce) in April 2024, representing:

  • an increase of 0.1% (less than 100) over the month
  • a decrease of 600 (1.6%) over the year, and
  • an increase of 6,300 (21.1%) since March 2020.

Changes by sex:

  • an increase of 0.1% in males and unchanged for females over the month, and
  • a decrease of 3.2% in males and an increase of 0.7% in females over the year.

Changes by age:

  • Over the year, there has been a 6.4% decrease in claimants aged 16 to 24, and an increase of 0.3% in claimants aged 25 to 49. The number of claimants aged 50 and over has decreased by 0.7% over the year.
  • Compared to the pre-pandemic counts in March 2020, there have been increases in the number of claimants for both the 25 to 49 (+35.5%) and the 50 and over (+14.1%) age-bands. However, there was a decrease of 1.7% in the number of claimants aged 16 to 24.

Changes by Local Government District:

  • Over the year, the largest increases were seen in Mid Ulster (+4.2%) and Fermanagh and Omagh (+2.2%).
  • The largest decreases over the year were seen in Antrim and Newtownabbey (-5.8%) and Mid and East Antrim (-4.9%).

UK regional comparison:

  • The UK seasonally adjusted claimant count increased by 0.6% over the month to 1,578,800 (4.1% of the workforce).
  • The UK count is 41.5% below the recent peak in August 2020 and 28.4% 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

  • 80 redundancies were confirmed in April 2024, taking the annual total to 2,380, which was more than double the figure for the previous year (1,160).
  • There were 140 proposed redundancies in April 2024, taking the annual total to 4,010, which was almost double the figure for the previous year (2,090).

Figure 3: Latest annual totals of proposed and confirmed redundancies are considerably higher than the previous year

NI confirmed and proposed redundancies, Annual totals, May 2008-Apr 2009 to May 2023-Apr 2024
Chart
Table
Year Proposed Confirmed
2008/09 5,280 4,250
2009/10 3,930 3,450
2010/11 2,440 1,770
2011/12 3,250 2,010
2012/13 3,310 3,450
2013/14 3,030 2,110
2014/15 3,810 1,890
2015/16 4,470 2,600
2016/17 3,410 3,050
2017/18 3,410 2,070
2018/19 3,450 2,110
2019/20 4,590 3,110
2020/21 9,350 5,790
2021/22 2,210 1,810
2022/23 2,090 1,160
2023/24 4,010 2,380


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.

The number of proposed redundancies in April 2024 (140) is lower than the monthly average for 2023 (360), and lower than the monthly average in the five-years before the pandemic (310, covering 2015 to 2019). The rolling twelve-month total of 4,010 is the highest in 2024 so far, similar to the trend before the pandemic.

The April 2024 total of confirmed redundancies (80) was lower than the monthly average for 2023 (220). The rolling twelve-month total (2,380) is lower than the recent peak in December 2023 (2,600), but remains similar to levels seen before the pandemic.

Confirmed redundancies

During April 2024, the Department was notified of:

  • 80 confirmed redundancies, lower than the monthly average (220) during 2023.

Over the latest twelve month period there were:

  • 2,380 confirmed redundancies, which was more than double the figure for the previous year (1,160).
  • 440 confirmed redundancies (18.3%) in the administrative and support service activities sector.
  • 430 confirmed redundancies (17.9%) in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles sector.
  • 410 confirmed redundancies (17.0%) in the financial and insurance activities sector.

Proposed redundancies

During April 2024, the Department was notified of:

  • 140 proposed redundancies.

Over the last twelve months, to the end of April 2024, there were:

  • 4,010 proposed redundancies, which was 91.5% more than the figure for the previous year (2,090).
  • 780 proposed redundancies (19.4%) in the education sector.
  • 750 proposed redundancies (18.7%) in the financial and insurance activities sector.
  • 390 proposed redundancies (9.8%) in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 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 January-March 2024 increased over both the quarter and year to 71.8%.
  • The most recent UK employment rate for January-March 2024 was estimated at 74.5%.

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

Seasonally adjusted employment rate (Aged 16 to 64), Jan-Mar 2009 to Jan-Mar 2024
Chart

Note: graph has a non-zero axis

Table
Date Northern Ireland United Kingdom
Jan-Mar 2009 64.8 71.7
Apr-Jun 2009 64.0 70.8
Jul-Sep 2009 64.5 70.6
Oct-Dec 2009 65.6 70.6
Jan-Mar 2010 65.9 70.2
Apr-Jun 2010 66.3 70.4
Jul-Sep 2010 66.2 70.7
Oct-Dec 2010 65.9 70.4
Jan-Mar 2011 66.9 70.5
Apr-Jun 2011 67.7 70.5
Jul-Sep 2011 67.3 70.1
Oct-Dec 2011 67.6 70.2
Jan-Mar 2012 67.4 70.5
Apr-Jun 2012 67.0 70.9
Jul-Sep 2012 67.3 71.1
Oct-Dec 2012 67.1 71.4
Jan-Mar 2013 66.4 71.1
Apr-Jun 2013 66.3 71.3
Jul-Sep 2013 67.0 71.6
Oct-Dec 2013 67.6 71.9
Jan-Mar 2014 67.7 72.4
Apr-Jun 2014 68.3 72.7
Jul-Sep 2014 68.4 72.9
Oct-Dec 2014 67.7 73.1
Jan-Mar 2015 68.2 73.3
Apr-Jun 2015 67.8 73.3
Jul-Sep 2015 67.9 73.6
Oct-Dec 2015 68.7 74.0
Jan-Mar 2016 69.2 74.0
Apr-Jun 2016 69.2 74.2
Jul-Sep 2016 70.1 74.3
Oct-Dec 2016 69.8 74.4
Jan-Mar 2017 68.4 74.6
Apr-Jun 2017 69.4 74.9
Jul-Sep 2017 68.3 74.8
Oct-Dec 2017 68.6 74.9
Jan-Mar 2018 69.8 75.3
Apr-Jun 2018 69.6 75.3
Jul-Sep 2018 69.4 75.3
Oct-Dec 2018 70.3 75.5
Jan-Mar 2019 71.3 75.7
Apr-Jun 2019 72.2 75.8
Jul-Sep 2019 72.3 75.7
Oct-Dec 2019 72.4 76.1
Jan-Mar 2020 71.8 75.9
Apr-Jun 2020 69.9 75.3
Jul-Sep 2020 69.9 74.5
Oct-Dec 2020 68.2 74.2
Jan-Mar 2021 67.9 74.2
Apr-Jun 2021 68.7 74.6
Jul-Sep 2021 68.1 74.9
Oct-Dec 2021 68.8 75.0
Jan-Mar 2022 70.6 75.1
Apr-Jun 2022 69.7 75.0
Jul-Sep 2022 69.2 75.0
Oct-Dec 2022 70.9 75.2
Jan-Mar 2023 70.9 75.3
Apr-Jun 2023 70.4 75.2
Jul-Sep 2023 70.7 74.8
Oct-Dec 2023 71.3 75.0
Jan-Mar 2024 71.8 74.5


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 2019 and 2021 was steeper than the fall in the UK rate. The most recent NI employment rate (71.8%) was the highest rate since the pre-pandemic rate of 72.4% recorded in October-December 2019.

The most recent NI employment rate (aged 16 to 64) for the period January-March 2024 was estimated at 71.8%. This was:

  • an increase of 0.5pps over the quarter (not statistically significant); and
  • an increase of 1.0pps over the year (not statistically significant);

The number of employed people (age 16 and over) in NI was estimated at 879,000, which was:

  • up 6,000 from last quarter; and
  • up 14,000 from the same period last year.

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

  • the male employment rate (75.4%) increased by 0.8pps over the year; and
  • the female employment rate (68.4%) increased by 1.2pps over the year.

UK regional comparison:

  • The NI employment rate (aged 16 to 64) of 71.8% was 2.6pps below the most recent UK rate of 74.5%.
  • the third lowest of the twelve UK regions.

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

Self-employment:

  • In January-March 2024, there were 107,000 self-employed, an increase of 14,000 (+15.0%) on a year ago, and 27,000 lower (-20.0%) than the pre-pandemic figure in October-December 2019.
  • The proportion who were self-employed (12.2%) remains below the pre-pandemic proportion (15.3% recorded in October-December 2019).

Employment by Age:

  • In January-March 2024, those aged 35 to 49 had the highest employment rate (83.5%), whilst those aged 16 to 24 had the lowest (50.9%).
  • Compared to the pre-pandemic rates in October-December 2019, the employment rate for those aged 50 to 64 saw the largest increase (by 1.8pps, from 64.2% to 66.0%), whilst the rate for those aged 16 to 24 saw the largest decrease (by -4.7pps, from 55.7% to 50.9%).

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 January-March 2024 was estimated at 28.3 million hours per week.
  • This was an increase of 2.7% on the previous quarter and a decrease of 0.6% on the same period last year.

Figure 5: Hours worked similar to the level one year ago

Total weekly hours worked (Age 16 and over), Jan-Mar 2009 to Jan-Mar 2024
Chart

Note: graph has a non-zero axis

Table
Date Total weekly hours
Jan-Mar 2009 25.7
Apr-Jun 2009 25.8
Jul-Sep 2009 24.3
Oct-Dec 2009 25.4
Jan-Mar 2010 25.8
Apr-Jun 2010 26.2
Jul-Sep 2010 24.5
Oct-Dec 2010 24.7
Jan-Mar 2011 26.7
Apr-Jun 2011 26.6
Jul-Sep 2011 25.3
Oct-Dec 2011 25.3
Jan-Mar 2012 26.5
Apr-Jun 2012 26.4
Jul-Sep 2012 26.1
Oct-Dec 2012 26.2
Jan-Mar 2013 26.6
Apr-Jun 2013 26.7
Jul-Sep 2013 26.5
Oct-Dec 2013 26.4
Jan-Mar 2014 27.2
Apr-Jun 2014 27.6
Jul-Sep 2014 27.2
Oct-Dec 2014 27.1
Jan-Mar 2015 27.8
Apr-Jun 2015 27.1
Jul-Sep 2015 26.1
Oct-Dec 2015 25.9
Jan-Mar 2016 27.5
Apr-Jun 2016 28.4
Jul-Sep 2016 26.5
Oct-Dec 2016 27.5
Jan-Mar 2017 28.0
Apr-Jun 2017 28.0
Jul-Sep 2017 26.7
Oct-Dec 2017 27.6
Jan-Mar 2018 28.3
Apr-Jun 2018 28.8
Jul-Sep 2018 27.6
Oct-Dec 2018 28.3
Jan-Mar 2019 29.3
Apr-Jun 2019 29.6
Jul-Sep 2019 28.9
Oct-Dec 2019 29.1
Jan-Mar 2020 28.5
Apr-Jun 2020 22.9
Jul-Sep 2020 25.4
Oct-Dec 2020 24.6
Jan-Mar 2021 25.1
Apr-Jun 2021 26.6
Jul-Sep 2021 26.1
Oct-Dec 2021 26.3
Jan-Mar 2022 28.0
Apr-Jun 2022 27.8
Jul-Sep 2022 26.5
Oct-Dec 2022 27.8
Jan-Mar 2023 28.5
Apr-Jun 2023 28.2
Jul-Sep 2023 27.4
Oct-Dec 2023 27.6
Jan-Mar 2024 28.3


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 January-March 2020 and April-June 2020. From early-2021 onwards, the increasing trend returned at a steeper rate than before the pandemic. Hours worked in January-March 2024 remained 4.4% below the peak of 29.6 million hours in April-June 2019.

The total number of weekly hours worked in NI in January-March 2024 was estimated at 28.3 million hours, this was:

  • an increase of 0.7 million hours (2.7%) on the previous quarter;
  • a decrease of 0.2 million hours (0.6%) from the same period last year (not statistically significant); and
  • 0.8 million hours, or 2.7%, below the pre-pandemic (October-December 2019) figure.

The average number of weekly hours worked in January-March 2024 was estimated at 36.7 hours for those in full-time employment, and at 16.6 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 38.7 hours, whereas for females it was 33.7 hours.
  • for those in part-time employment, the average weekly hours worked for males was 16.3 hours, whereas for females it was 16.7 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 0.3% over the month and increased by 1.3% over the year to April 2024.
  • In the UK, the number of payrolled employees decreased by 0.3% over the month and increased by 0.4% over the year to April 2024.

Figure 6: Number of payrolled employees decreased over the month

NI payrolled employees (experimental) from PAYE RTI, July 2014 to April 2024
Chart

Note: graph has a non-zero axis

Table
Date Northern Ireland
Jul 2014 674,090
Aug 2014 675,774
Sep 2014 676,944
Oct 2014 678,077
Nov 2014 679,551
Dec 2014 679,431
Jan 2015 684,269
Feb 2015 686,052
Mar 2015 687,723
Apr 2015 690,545
May 2015 691,447
Jun 2015 693,798
Jul 2015 695,311
Aug 2015 696,847
Sep 2015 699,471
Oct 2015 699,881
Nov 2015 700,603
Dec 2015 700,577
Jan 2016 702,186
Feb 2016 702,617
Mar 2016 703,871
Apr 2016 703,911
May 2016 704,690
Jun 2016 704,800
Jul 2016 705,251
Aug 2016 706,277
Sep 2016 707,927
Oct 2016 709,131
Nov 2016 711,461
Dec 2016 712,762
Jan 2017 711,496
Feb 2017 713,134
Mar 2017 714,368
Apr 2017 715,989
May 2017 717,522
Jun 2017 718,996
Jul 2017 719,413
Aug 2017 721,522
Sep 2017 723,055
Oct 2017 724,233
Nov 2017 725,316
Dec 2017 728,961
Jan 2018 728,443
Feb 2018 729,817
Mar 2018 730,330
Apr 2018 732,084
May 2018 733,123
Jun 2018 733,953
Jul 2018 735,024
Aug 2018 736,631
Sep 2018 738,053
Oct 2018 739,922
Nov 2018 740,576
Dec 2018 741,593
Jan 2019 742,715
Feb 2019 743,826
Mar 2019 745,183
Apr 2019 746,721
May 2019 746,610
Jun 2019 745,628
Jul 2019 747,807
Aug 2019 747,866
Sep 2019 748,436
Oct 2019 748,963
Nov 2019 750,567
Dec 2019 750,255
Jan 2020 752,319
Feb 2020 753,575
Mar 2020 753,792
Apr 2020 743,250
May 2020 742,348
Jun 2020 741,897
Jul 2020 743,039
Aug 2020 738,118
Sep 2020 738,589
Oct 2020 737,810
Nov 2020 736,373
Dec 2020 736,550
Jan 2021 738,712
Feb 2021 738,932
Mar 2021 740,311
Apr 2021 742,186
May 2021 748,485
Jun 2021 755,612
Jul 2021 761,163
Aug 2021 760,323
Sep 2021 761,511
Oct 2021 762,717
Nov 2021 765,472
Dec 2021 767,823
Jan 2022 769,979
Feb 2022 771,082
Mar 2022 772,847
Apr 2022 775,585
May 2022 777,158
Jun 2022 777,052
Jul 2022 778,919
Aug 2022 781,386
Sep 2022 780,818
Oct 2022 781,772
Nov 2022 783,082
Dec 2022 784,503
Jan 2023 784,081
Feb 2023 785,435
Mar 2023 788,128
Apr 2023 789,226
May 2023 789,263
Jun 2023 789,951
Jul 2023 790,440
Aug 2023 791,652
Sep 2023 794,526
Oct 2023 796,917
Nov 2023 797,658
Dec 2023 798,792
Jan 2024 799,867
Feb 2024 801,084
Mar 2024 801,622
Apr 2024 799,608


Please note:

  1. The flash estimate for the latest period is based on early data and is therefore more likely to be subject to revisions.

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 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. The most recent employee numbers, however, have decreased by 0.3% over the month.

Data from the latest HMRC PAYE RTI show that:

  • 799,600 people were payrolled employees in April 2024, a 0.3% decrease from the previous month and a 1.3% increase over the year.
  • in the UK, there were 30,247,800 payrolled employees in April 2024, a decrease of 0.3% over the month and an increase of 0.4% over the year.
  • all regions of the UK increased over the year to April 2024, where changes ranged from an increase of 0.1% in London to an increase of 1.3% in Northern Ireland.
  • between March 2020 and April 2024, all regions of the UK recorded an increase in payrolled employees (4.3% overall). Northern Ireland recorded the largest increase (6.1%) while Scotland recorded the lowest (3.0%).

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 increased by 1.1% (£23) over the month to £2,192 in April 2024 and increased by 6.8% (£140) over the year.
  • UK median monthly pay increased by 0.9% (£22) over the month to £2,381 in April 2024 and increased by 6.9% (£153) over the year.

Figure 7: Over the month median monthly pay increased in NI and increased in the UK

Median Monthly Pay (experimental) from PAYE RTI, July 2014 to April 2024
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 1495 1620
Mar 2015 1501 1618
Apr 2015 1499 1614
May 2015 1498 1615
Jun 2015 1492 1616
Jul 2015 1493 1619
Aug 2015 1488 1616
Sep 2015 1494 1618
Oct 2015 1497 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 1535 1677
Mar 2017 1546 1686
Apr 2017 1542 1689
May 2017 1544 1690
Jun 2017 1556 1694
Jul 2017 1555 1693
Aug 2017 1561 1699
Sep 2017 1563 1704
Oct 2017 1565 1706
Nov 2017 1572 1713
Dec 2017 1576 1721
Jan 2018 1570 1724
Feb 2018 1590 1728
Mar 2018 1586 1731
Apr 2018 1592 1730
May 2018 1604 1749
Jun 2018 1612 1755
Jul 2018 1612 1751
Aug 2018 1619 1771
Sep 2018 1620 1761
Oct 2018 1631 1767
Nov 2018 1635 1779
Dec 2018 1632 1772
Jan 2019 1647 1782
Feb 2019 1688 1791
Mar 2019 1660 1801
Apr 2019 1668 1810
May 2019 1679 1816
Jun 2019 1678 1811
Jul 2019 1681 1819
Aug 2019 1683 1824
Sep 2019 1685 1819
Oct 2019 1692 1825
Nov 2019 1687 1831
Dec 2019 1672 1836
Jan 2020 1702 1850
Feb 2020 1710 1861
Mar 2020 1743 1847
Apr 2020 1655 1792
May 2020 1664 1799
Jun 2020 1716 1828
Jul 2020 1742 1859
Aug 2020 1749 1880
Sep 2020 1768 1897
Oct 2020 1779 1912
Nov 2020 1778 1915
Dec 2020 1783 1924
Jan 2021 1784 1927
Feb 2021 1791 1942
Mar 2021 1796 1951
Apr 2021 1812 1964
May 2021 1806 1964
Jun 2021 1833 1972
Jul 2021 1879 1979
Aug 2021 1824 1986
Sep 2021 1849 2003
Oct 2021 1858 2012
Nov 2021 1856 2020
Dec 2021 1902 2034
Jan 2022 1936 2048
Feb 2022 1914 2054
Mar 2022 1930 2078
Apr 2022 1930 2078
May 2022 1943 2088
Jun 2022 1952 2098
Jul 2022 1958 2111
Aug 2022 1976 2119
Sep 2022 1965 2140
Oct 2022 1983 2151
Nov 2022 2008 2195
Dec 2022 2008 2186
Jan 2023 2038 2193
Feb 2023 2051 2207
Mar 2023 2113 2218
Apr 2023 2052 2228
May 2023 2079 2258
Jun 2023 2095 2295
Jul 2023 2090 2269
Aug 2023 2097 2279
Sep 2023 2098 2266
Oct 2023 2107 2284
Nov 2023 2128 2336
Dec 2023 2137 2322
Jan 2024 2135 2334
Feb 2024 2154 2346
Mar 2024 2169 2359
Apr 2024 2192 2381


Please note:

  1. The flash estimate for the latest period is based on early data and is therefore more likely to be subject to revisions.
  2. Partially missing data in the submissions of some schemes in Northern Ireland has caused unusual patterns in pay for the region. Additional imputation has been applied to these schemes from November 2023 onwards. This imputation brings overall estimates for Northern Ireland in line with the expected trend, but once corrected data is received, estimates may be subject to some further small revisions.

Median monthly pay in NI and the UK increased overall between mid-2015 and early 2020. In NI, an 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 3.0%. These monthly decreases coincided with decreases in the number of paid employees recorded in April 2020. The most recent data shows that NI has the lowest monthly pay of the 12 UK government regions.

Data from the latest HMRC PAYE RTI show that:

  • NI had a median monthly pay of £2,192 in April 2024, which was an increase of 1.1% on the previous month and an increase of 6.8% over the year.
  • UK had a median monthly pay of £2,381 in April 2024, which was an increase of 0.9% on the previous month and an increase of 6.9% from April 2023.
  • NI had the fourth smallest annual increase of the 12 UK regions, and remains the lowest earning region in the UK. London had the highest median pay (£2,826).
  • Since March 2020, earnings in NI have increased by 25.8%, 3.1pps lower than the increase in the UK (28.9%) and the lowest of all the UK regions.


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 NI economic inactivity rate decreased over both the quarter and the year to 26.6%.
  • The most recent UK economic inactivity rate for January-March 2024 was estimated at 22.1%.

Figure 8: NI economic inactivity consistently above UK average

Seasonally adjusted economic inactivity rates (Aged 16 to 64), Jan-Mar 2009 to Jan-Mar 2024
Chart

Note: graph has a non-zero axis

Table
Date Northern Ireland United Kingdom
Jan-Mar 2009 30.8 22.8
Apr-Jun 2009 31.5 23.1
Jul-Sep 2009 30.6 23.3
Oct-Dec 2009 30.1 23.4
Jan-Mar 2010 29.2 23.6
Apr-Jun 2010 28.9 23.5
Jul-Sep 2010 28.8 23.2
Oct-Dec 2010 28.3 23.5
Jan-Mar 2011 27.8 23.4
Apr-Jun 2011 26.8 23.3
Jul-Sep 2011 27.3 23.4
Oct-Dec 2011 27.2 23.2
Jan-Mar 2012 27.6 23.1
Apr-Jun 2012 27.3 22.8
Jul-Sep 2012 27.0 22.7
Oct-Dec 2012 27.2 22.4
Jan-Mar 2013 27.7 22.6
Apr-Jun 2013 28.3 22.6
Jul-Sep 2013 27.5 22.3
Oct-Dec 2013 27.0 22.3
Jan-Mar 2014 27.0 22.2
Apr-Jun 2014 26.8 22.2
Jul-Sep 2014 27.0 22.3
Oct-Dec 2014 28.0 22.3
Jan-Mar 2015 27.1 22.2
Apr-Jun 2015 27.4 22.2
Jul-Sep 2015 27.6 22.1
Oct-Dec 2015 26.9 21.9
Jan-Mar 2016 26.1 21.9
Apr-Jun 2016 26.4 21.8
Jul-Sep 2016 25.6 21.8
Oct-Dec 2016 26.1 21.8
Jan-Mar 2017 27.6 21.7
Apr-Jun 2017 26.8 21.5
Jul-Sep 2017 28.8 21.7
Oct-Dec 2017 28.4 21.5
Jan-Mar 2018 27.9 21.3
Apr-Jun 2018 27.6 21.4
Jul-Sep 2018 27.7 21.4
Oct-Dec 2018 26.8 21.2
Jan-Mar 2019 26.5 21.1
Apr-Jun 2019 25.5 21.0
Jul-Sep 2019 25.8 21.1
Oct-Dec 2019 25.8 20.8
Jan-Mar 2020 26.4 20.7
Apr-Jun 2020 28.0 21.3
Jul-Sep 2020 27.5 21.5
Oct-Dec 2020 29.0 21.5
Jan-Mar 2021 29.2 21.7
Apr-Jun 2021 28.1 21.6
Jul-Sep 2021 28.7 21.6
Oct-Dec 2021 28.9 21.7
Jan-Mar 2022 27.5 21.8
Apr-Jun 2022 28.3 21.8
Jul-Sep 2022 28.3 22.0
Oct-Dec 2022 27.2 21.7
Jan-Mar 2023 27.4 21.5
Apr-Jun 2023 27.8 21.4
Jul-Sep 2023 27.8 21.9
Oct-Dec 2023 26.8 21.9
Jan-Mar 2024 26.6 22.1


Figure 8 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. Since early-2021 however, the trends have varied, with the NI rate trending downwards whilst the UK rate is trending upwards. Over the last year, the economic inactivity rate in NI has seen a decrease of 0.8pps whilst the UK rate has seen an increase of 0.6pps. The most recent economic inactivity rates for NI (26.6%) and the UK (22.1%) were 0.8pps and 1.3pps higher than their pre-pandemic equivalents in October-December 2019.

The NI economic inactivity rate (aged 16 to 64) for January-March 2024 was estimated at 26.6%, which was:

  • a decrease of 0.2pps over the quarter (not statistically significant); and
  • a decrease of 0.8pps over the year (not statistically significant).

The number of economically inactive people (age 16 and over) in NI was estimated at 613,000, which was:

  • unchanged from last quarter; and
  • down 2,000 from the same period last year.

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

  • an increase of 0.1pps over the year in the male economic inactivity rate to 22.9%; and
  • a decrease of 1.6pps over the year in the female economic inactivity rate to 30.1%.

UK regional comparison:

  • The NI economic inactivity rate (aged 16 to 64) of 26.6% was 4.4pps above the most recent UK rate of 22.1%.
  • the third highest of the twelve UK regions.

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

Reasons for inactivity:

  • In January-March 2024, the most common reason for economic inactivity among the working age population was ‘long-term sick’. There were 122,000 ‘long-term sick’, accounting for 39.2% of the total economically inactive (aged 16 to 64), or 10.4% of the working age population. This was a decrease of 8,000 (-6.4%) from the same period last year and 18,000 (+17.7%) higher than the pre-pandemic figure in October-December 2019.
  • Compared to the pre-pandemic figures in October-December 2019, there has been an increase in the number of ‘long-term sick’ (+18,000) and ‘student’ (+14,000), however the totals for ‘family and home care’ (-18,000) and ‘retired’ (-1,000) have decreased.

Inactivity by Age:

  • In January-March 2024, those aged 65 and over (300,000) made up the highest proportion (49.0%) of the total economically inactive (age 16 and over), with those aged 25 to 34 (39,000) making up the lowest proportion (6.4%) across the age groups.
  • Those aged 65 and over had the highest economic inactivity rate (90.0%), whilst those aged 35 to 49 had the lowest (15.4%). These rates are similar to the pre-pandemic rates in October-December 2019 (90.1% and 15.3% 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 October to December 2023 was 2,362, a decrease of 7.7% from the same period last year.

Table 1: LFS Response rates, October-December 2021 to October-December 2023

Period NI Response Rate (%) UK Response Rate (%)
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 43.9 17.4
October-December 2023 41.9 18.8

Please note, response rates are updated quarterly.

LFS revisions

LFS microdata are routinely revised to incorporate the latest population estimates. The population totals for January-March 2020 to June-August 2022, however, used projected growth rates from RTI data for UK, EU and non-EU populations based on 2021 patterns. The total population used at that time for the LFS therefore did not take into account any changes in migration, birth rates, death rates etc. since June 2021 and hence the estimates of levels may have been under- or over-estimating the true values and should be used with caution. Estimates of rates for this period will, however, be robust.

The latest LFS reweighting was introduced in 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. Previous reweightings occured in October 2020, July 2021 and June 2022 and an overview of the impact of reweighting on the NI estimates of unemployment, employment, and economic inactivity is available on the NISRA website.

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 January-March 2024 should be compared with the estimates for October-December 2023. This provides a more robust estimate than comparing with the estimates for December-February 2024, as the January and February 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.

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.


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:

HMRC PAYE

Ashleigh Warwick
Email:


Web: Labour Market and Social Welfare
Twitter: NISRA

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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 6.

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