Introduction
Employee jobs estimates are calculated from the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), part of the Quarterly Business Survey (QBS). The QES covers all employers with 25+ employees, all public sector employers, multi-activity businesses, and a representative sample of smaller firms.
All figures are seasonally adjusted unless stated otherwise.
Key Points
- There were an estimated 838,200 employee jobs in Northern Ireland in September 2025.
- This was a decrease of 2,190 jobs (− 0.3%) over the quarter, and an increase of 8,180 jobs (+ 1.0%) over the year.
- Quarterly changes were mainly driven by the manufacturing and services sector; annual changes were mainly driven by the services sector.
Index of Employee jobs
The latest employee jobs estimate for Northern Ireland (NI) as of
September 2025 was 838,200
(+/-7,560)1.
Figure 2 shows estimated employee jobs, indexed to allow comparison between NI and the UK. NI employee jobs decreased by -0.3% over the quarter (-2,190 jobs). Employee jobs previously reached a new series high in June 2025 of 840,390 jobs before dropping to 838,200 jobs in September 2025. Over the year (September 2024 to September 2025), employee jobs have increased by +1% (+8,180 jobs).
The decrease in employee jobs over the quarter was mainly driven by
changes in the services and manufacturing sectors, whilst annual
increases were mainly driven by the services sector. The UK reported a
decrease in employee jobs over the quarter (0.0% or -15,000 jobs) and
increased over the year (+0.2% or +75,000 jobs) with the total number of
jobs at 32,291,000 in September 2025.
Figure 2: Index of Employee Jobs for Northern Ireland and the UK
Index: Sept 10 = 100
Following the 2008 downturn, the UK series reached its lowest point
in December 2010, more than a year before the NI low in March 2012. NI
jobs are now +21.3% (or +147,350 jobs) above the low point in March 2012
while UK jobs are +18.2% (or +4.97 million jobs) above their December
2010 level.
During the Covid-19 pandemic (beginning in March
2020), total NI jobs declined over five quarters until March 2021 before
showing signs of recovery in June 2021. By comparison, the UK only
showed a reduction in total employee jobs between June 2020 and December
2020, with mostly quarter-on quarter increases seen every quarter since
then, except in June 2023, June 2025 and September 2025. UK jobs
decreased marginally over the quarter with the series high last seen in
March 2025.
1 Represents 95% confidence interval around estimate. More information is available in the QES Confidence Intervals User Guidance PDF.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing sector: Contains businesses which produce merchandise for use or sale. It also contains businesses with activity of printing and reproduction of recorded media and businesses that repair and install machinery and equipment. Manufacturing is part of the broader production sector.
NI manufacturing sector jobs decreased over the quarter (-1.3% or
-1,220 jobs) to September 2025 after reaching a series high of 90,930
jobs in June 2025. The UK manufacturing sector experienced a decrease
over the same period (-0.4% or -9,000 jobs). Over the year the number of
employee jobs in the NI manufacturing sector decreased by -0.5% (-420
jobs), with the UK manufacturing sector decreasing by -1.5% (-35,000
jobs).
Figure 3: Index of manufacturing employee jobs for Northern Ireland and the UK
Index: Sept 10 = 100
NI manufacturing reached a series low in March 2013. The NI and
UK series began to diverge from this point, with NI showing stronger
growth in the manufacturing sector compared to the UK. Manufacturing
jobs in NI are currently +23.4% (+17,010 jobs) above the March 2013 low
point, whilst UK manufacturing jobs are currently at a series low.
Construction
Construction sector: construction is the process of creating and building infrastructure or a facility.It differs from manufacturing in that manufacturing typically involves mass production of similar items without a designated purchaser and construction is typically done on location for a known client. The construction sector consists of businesses with activity in the construction of buildings, civil engineering or specialised construction activities.
NI construction sector jobs showed nominal change over the quarter to
September 2025 (+0.1% or +50 jobs) and an increase over the year (+6.3%
or +2,420 jobs). The UK construction sector jobs decreased over the
quarter by -0.2% (-3,000) and increased over the year by +1.1% (+17,000
jobs).
Figure 4: Index of construction employee jobs for Northern Ireland and the UK
Index: Sept 10 = 100
The series low in NI construction sector jobs was in December
2014 (28,740 jobs). The latest estimates show a +42.6% (+12,250 jobs)
improvement on this level; with NI construction jobs reaching a series
high in September 2025 (40,990 jobs).
For the UK, the series low
was in September 2013; however since then UK construction sector jobs
have recovered by +31.4% (+385,000 jobs).
Services
Services sector: the services sector contains businesses which sell services and skills; and includes education, public administration and health and social work activities. A full list of the industry sections G-S which are included in the services sector can be found in table 5.5 within the supplementary tables on the Economic and Labour Market Statistics website.
Services sector jobs in NI experienced a decrease over the quarter
(-0.1% or -1,010 jobs) to 683,920 jobs in September 2025. Over the year
the number of employee jobs in the services sector has increased by
+1.0% (+6,630 jobs).
The UK experienced a decrease in service
sector jobs over the quarter (0.0% or -11,000 jobs) and increased over
the year (+0.3% or +77,000 jobs) to reach a total of 27.7 million jobs
in September 2025.
Figure 5: Index of services employee jobs for Northern Ireland and the UK
Index: Sept 10 = 100
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, NI services jobs declined each
quarter from March 2020 through to December 2020, before beginning to
recover in March 2021. In contrast, UK services jobs began to recover
much sooner, after only two quarters of decline from June 2020 through
to September 2020.
NI Jobs have been on an overall upward trend
since Q3 2024, having reached a new series high in June 2025 at 684,940
jobs before reducing to 683,920 in September 2025. Similarly, UK service
sector jobs have mainly increased overall since December 2020 and last
reached a series high of 27.75 million jobs back in June 2025.
Other Industries
Other industries
sector: this sector contains
businesses with activity in agriculture, forestry and fishing, mining
and quarrying, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply and
water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
(industry sections A,B,D and E).
Estimates from the annual Farm
Census are included in industry section A (accounting for approximately
90% of the employee jobs in the section). The Farm Census figures are
published annually in January and relate to the previous September.
Other industry sector jobs experienced a marginal decrease over the
quarter (0.0% or -10 jobs) to 23,570 jobs in September 2025. Over the
year, other industry sector jobs decreased by -1.9% (-450 jobs). Other
industry sector jobs for the UK increased by +1.3% (+8,000 jobs) over
the quarter and increased over the year by +2.1% (+13,000 jobs).
Figure 6: Index of other industries employee jobs for Northern Ireland and the UK
Index: Sept 10 = 100
Over the last 10 years the other industries sector in NI and the
UK increased overall.
The number of employee jobs in the other
industries sector in NI increased by +8.3% (+1,810 jobs) over the
10-year period to September 2025. UK other industry jobs increased by
+6.0% (+36,000 jobs) over the same period.
Public and Private jobs
Public sector: the NI public sector can be broken down into
five areas:
1. NI central government
2. Bodies under aegis of NI
central government
3. UK central government employees based in
Northern Ireland
4. Local government
5. Public corporations
Private sector: the private sector encompasses all
for-profit businesses (not owned or operated by the government) and the
voluntary sector, which includes charities and other non-profit
organisations.
Public sector jobs increased by +0.1% (+230 jobs) over the quarter
and increased by +1.3% (+2,940 jobs) over the year to total 230,080
jobs. Public sector jobs have reached a new series high in September
2025.
Private sector jobs decreased by -0.3% (-1,830 jobs) over
the quarter and increased by +0.8% (+4,810 jobs) over the year to total
608,340 jobs. This follows on from the previous series high of 610,160
jobs seen in June 2025.
Figure 7: Index of Public and Private sector employee jobs for Northern Ireland
Index: Sept 10 = 100
The NI public sector made up 27.4% of all NI employee jobs in September 2025, while the private sector made up 72.6%2.
Northern Ireland has consistently had a higher proportion of public sector jobs per population than the whole of the UK. In September 2025, NI public sector jobs as a proportion of the UK population were 11.9%, which compares to 8.7% for the whole of the UK.
2 The Public and Private sector jobs series are individually seasonally adjusted and as a result the sum of both series may not equal the Northern Ireland total employee jobs estimates and percentage breakdowns may not equal 100.
Full-time and part-time jobs
Part-time: part-time means those who normally work 30
hours a week or less.
Full-time: full-time
means those who normally work more than 30 hours a week.
Please note that data in this section have not been adjusted for
seasonality.
Full-time employee jobs decreased by -0.1% (-300 jobs) over the
quarter to September 2025 with 553,780 jobs. Part-time employee jobs
decreased over the same period by -0.8% (-2,410 jobs) in September 2025.
Over the year, full-time jobs increased (+2.0% or +11,030 jobs) and
part-time jobs decreased (-1.2% or -3,520 jobs).
Figure 8: Annual change in Full-time and Part-time employee jobs
Throughout the series the low point for full-time jobs was seen
in March 2013. Since then, the number of full-time jobs has increased by
+24.4% (+108,440 jobs) to September 2025.
The series low for
part-time jobs was in March 2012, and since then there has been an
increase in part-time jobs of +17.0% (+40,950 jobs) to September 2025.
Part-time jobs currently account for 33.8% of all employee jobs.
Section level
Section level:
Employee jobs are reported at Broad
sector level which covers Manufacturing, Construction, Services and
Other Industries. Each of these broad industries can be further
disaggregated into ‘Section level’ as follows.
Manufacturing: Section C
Construction: Section
F
Services: Sections
G-S
Other industries:
Sections A, B, D, E
Further details on the section hierarchy can be
found online at
Standard
Industrial Classification.
Figure 9 shows the changes over the quarter (June 2025 to September
2025) by Section. The services sector makes up 81.6% of total employee
jobs in Northern Ireland. The majority of the largest changes were seen
within the services sector over the year from September 2024 to
September 2025.
The largest increase over the quarter was seen
in Section R, Arts, entertainment and recreation which increased by
+2.5% (+400 jobs).
The second joint highest increase was seen in Section G, Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles which increased by +0.3% (+400 jobs). This was followed by Section H, Transportation and storage which had an increase of +1.0% (+320 jobs).
The largest decrease was seen in Section P, Education which decreased
by -1.8% (-1,580 jobs).
Further information
Data published within this bulletin is available to download from our website website and the new NISRA Data Portal.
Detailed background information documents and methodology information have also been published online for users to refer to for more detailed information on the QES.
We have also published information on revisions to the QES series
which users can access on our website.
Changes to recent release Quarter 3 2025
Following the seasonal adjustment review conducted in May 2025,
changes have been made to some regressors and models used to seasonally
adjust time series using X13 ARIMA SEATS.
Figures from the QES are included in the Labour Market Report alongside figures from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The Quarterly Employment Survey measures the number of jobs, not the number of people with jobs. A person can have more than one job and some jobs may be shared by more than one person. This differs to the concept of employment measured by the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which defines employment as the number of people in work. LFS employment figures are also based on a rolling three-month period whereas QES measures the number of jobs on a particular day.
Accredited Official Statistics
Accredited official statistics are official statistics that have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation. These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in August 2010. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.
Producers of accredited official statistics are legally required to ensure they maintain compliance with the Code. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. The full assessment of Quarterly Employee Jobs estimates is available on our website.
Since the assessment by the UK Statistics Authority, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and have made the following improvements:
- Quantified the level of uncertainty around estimates by providing confidence intervals for headline estimates.
- Removed pre-release access to enhance trustworthiness and also brought the publication date forward as a result.
- Consulted users at Labour Market User Groups and streamlined outputs in line with the UK series.
- Reduced business burden by offering the option of online data returns.
- Improved accessibility of Labour Market Statistics by changing publication practices so that reports are no longer released on public holidays and amended the format and structure of reports in line with accessibility regulations.
- Changed timing of release in line with change in ONS release practices in response to COVID-19.
- Consulted users on streamlining the QES statistical bulletin.
Our statistical practice is regulated by OSR. They set the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
Contact Details
Published by: Economic and Labour Market Statistics Branch
Lead Statistician: Adam McMinn
Email: economicstats@nisra.gov.uk
Accessibility contact
Please contact Dissemination Branch for assistance with accessibility requirements or alternative formats. Contact details are:
Email: info@nisra.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)300 200 7836
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