Labour Market Statistics – Newsletter
Labour Market Statistics – Newsletter
1. Labour Market Statistics – Transformation in Northern Ireland
The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) is continuing with its detailed programme of work to transform the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and associated labour market statistics for Northern Ireland. This work is being advanced collaboratively alongside work being undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to transform the LFS in Great Britain.
In our Labour Market Statistics update - November 2025 published on the 14th November 2025, we provided some insight into how the new survey had been performing in the field. Since then, the survey has continued to perform well, with many of the key metrics remaining in and around the levels reported in the November update. Our extensive data analysis work (for example comparing the results from the LMS with corresponding results from the LFS and key administrative data sources such as HMRC PAYE employee statistics) has been progressing well. We have recently initiated some specific ‘data linkage’ projects to, for example, assess any non-response bias in the survey and alignment with key administrative sources. All of this work, along with detailed collaborative work with the ONS, continues to help shape the development of NISRA’s calibration and weighting process, which is integral to the production of population level results. The detail of this work will be shared and discussed with users in due course.
In parallel, work is continuing on the development of supporting LMS documentation and other related LMS based products in readiness for transitioning from the LFS to the LMS – timing to be decided and advised to users when known.
The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has recently concluded a review of NISRA’s transformation work. Their published report Compliance review of Labour Market Survey statistics in Northern Ireland was published on 17th June. It included six recommendations, which NISRA will seek to address going forward.
In closing, if 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
Previous updates can be found at Labour Force Survey Transformation.
2. ONS’s Labour market transformation – update on progress and plans
The latest information on ONS’s progress and plans can be found at Labour market transformation – update on progress and plans - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk).
3. Business Register and Employment Survey 2023
The Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) collects employee job figures by gender and working pattern from public and private sector businesses in Northern Ireland. Results for the BRES 2023 survey were published in October 2025. Its statistics were based on a smaller sample size (15,000 businesses) compared to the previous year, which allows for disaggregation of results at Headline and District Council Area levels only.
The BRES 2024 survey was a larger sample year with a total of 35,000 businesses surveyed. Results are expected to be released by Autumn 2026. The larger sample size allows the data to be disaggregated to small geographical areas and to 5-digit SIC level. The BRES 2025 survey, launched in September 2025, had again a smaller sample size. Its results are expected to be published later this year.
4. Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) publication
The 2025 ASHE publication Employee Earnings in NI was published in an HTML format on 23 October 2025.
ASHE data for 2011 to 2025 is currently available on the new NISRA Data Portal, allowing users to build their own bespoke tables. These can be found by either searching for ‘earnings’ in the search bar at the top of the page, or by selecting ‘Labour Market and Social Welfare’ from the list on the left-hand side and clicking on ‘Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings’.
5. Good Jobs in Northern Ireland 2025
The Good Jobs in NI 2025 publication was published on 25th November 2025.
This paper investigates good jobs in NI based on the Department for the Economy (DfE) definition of a ‘good job’, which is one that offers an employee of working age (between 16 and 64), a permanent contract and a non zero-hour contract; and earnings at the Real Living Wage or more.
The most recent figures for this Good Jobs measure relate to 2025 and are derived from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
6. Work quality in Northern Ireland
The latest Work quality publication was released in March 2026. This release provides analysis for seventeen Work Quality indicators sourced from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE).
All publications related to Work Quality can be accessed from the Work Quality Area on the NISRA website.
7. QES Statistical Production Project
Following the successful introduction of a RAP (Reproducible Analytical Pipeline) process to statistical production for the quarterly surveys, the Quarterly Business Survey (QBS) team have now completed phase two of the statistical production project i.e., developing HTML outputs to replace the current PDF bulletins. The first issue of the QES HTML bulletin was in Quarter 3 2025, showing results for September 2025. Subsequent publication formats have been further revised to improve user accessibility.
9. Upcoming Publications
NI Labour Market Report – 21st July 2026
Thanks for reading
Please let us know if you have found this newsletter useful, and if there is anything else you would like to see in future editions. Please email us, at Labourmarketstatistics@nisra.gov.uk