Northern Ireland Quarterly Employment Survey June 2026
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.
The latest quarterly estimates are compared to revised figures for March 2026 and June 2025. In order to provide a better estimate of the overall trend, all figures are seasonally adjusted unless stated otherwise.
Key points
- There were an estimated 857,660 employee jobs in Northern Ireland in June 2026.
-
This was an increase of 3,260 jobs (0.4%) over the quarter, and
an increase of 17,720 jobs (2.1%)
over the year. - Both the quarterly and annual change were driven mainly by the Services sector.
Index of employee jobs
The latest employee jobs estimate for Northern Ireland (NI) as of June 2026 was 857,660 (+/-8,720)1.
Figure 2 shows estimated employee jobs, indexed to allow comparison between NI and the UK2. NI employee jobs increased by 0.4% over the quarter (3,260 jobs), reaching a new series high in June 2026. Over the year, NI employee jobs increased by 2.1% (17,720 jobs).
The increases in employee jobs over the quarter and over the year were mainly driven by changes in the Services sector.
UK employee jobs showed nominal change over the quarter (decrease of 14,000 jobs, rounding to 0.0%) and an increase over the year (0.1% or 40,000 jobs) with the total number of jobs at 32.32 million in June 2026.
1 Represents 95% confidence interval around estimate. More
information is available in the
QES
Confidence Intervals User Guidance .
2 NI employee
jobs are compared to UK employee jobs for industry sections A to S. This
matches the industry sections included within the QES.
Figure 2: Index of employee jobs for Northern Ireland and the UK
Index: June 2011 = 100
NI employee jobs reached a series low in March 2012, with UK jobs
reaching a 15 year low in June 2011. NI jobs are now 24.0% (or 166,180
jobs) above the low point in March 2012 while UK jobs are 18.4% (or 5.0
million jobs) above their June 2011 level.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing sector: Manufacturing contains businesses which produce merchandise for use or sale. This sector also contains businesses with activity in the 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 jobs increased over the quarter (by 0.2% or 210
jobs) to 91,110 jobs in June 2026. The UK Manufacturing sector
experienced a decrease over the same period (0.8% or 18,000 jobs). Over
the year the number of employee jobs in the NI Manufacturing sector
increased by 0.7% (670 jobs), with the UK Manufacturing sector
decreasing by 2.1% (49,000 jobs).
Figure 3: Index of Manufacturing employee jobs for Northern Ireland and the UK
Index: June 2011 =
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 25.3% (18,410 jobs) above the March 2013 low
point, whilst UK Manufacturing jobs reached a new series low in June
2026 (2.29 million jobs).
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 a decrease over the quarter to
June 2026 (0.5% or 230 jobs) and an increase over the year (3.8% or
1,550 jobs) to 42,330 jobs in June 2026. UK Construction sector jobs
increased over the quarter (0.7% or 12,000 jobs) and increased over the
year (3.4% or 55,000 jobs), reaching a new series high in June 2026
(1.67 million jobs).
Figure 4: Index of Construction employee jobs for Northern Ireland and the UK
Index: June 2011 =
100
The series low in NI Construction sector jobs was in December
2014 (28,750 jobs). The latest estimate show a 47.2% (13,580 jobs)
improvement.
For the UK, the series low was in September 2013; since then UK
Construction sector jobs have recovered by 36.1% (443,000 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 to S which are included in the Services sector can be found in table 5.5 within the supplementary tables.
Services sector jobs in NI increased over the quarter (by 0.5% or
3,320 jobs) to 699,440 jobs in June 2026, which is a new series high.
Over the year the number of employee jobs in the Services sector has
increased by 2.2% (14,820 jobs).
The UK experienced a decrease in Services sector jobs3 over the quarter (0.1% or 21,000 jobs) and increased over the year (0.1% or 22,000 jobs) to reach a total of 27.71 million jobs in June 2026.
3 NI services jobs are compared to UK services jobs for industry sections G to S. This matches the industry sections included within the QES.
Figure 5: Index of Services employee jobs for Northern Ireland and the UK
Index: June 2011 =
100
During the Covid-19 pandemic (beginning in March 2020), NI
Services jobs declined each quarter until March 2021, before beginning
to recover in June 2021. In contrast, UK Services jobs began to recover
much sooner, after only two quarters of decline for June 2020 and
September 2020.
NI Jobs have been on an overall upward trend
since June 2024 and have reached a new series high in June 2026 at
699,440 jobs. Despite the slight decline seen in the first two quarters
of 2026, UK Services sector jobs have mainly increased overall since
December 2020, reaching a new series high in December 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 for June 2025 from the annual
Agricultural
Census are included in industry section A (accounting for
approximately 90% of the employee jobs in the section). The Agricultural
Census figures are published annually in January and relate to the
previous June.
Other Industries jobs experienced a decrease over the quarter (0.2%
or 50 jobs) to 24,790 jobs in June 2026. Over the year, Other Industries
jobs increased by 2.9% (690 jobs). Other Industries jobs for the UK
increased by 2.2% (14,000 jobs) over the quarter to 0.64 million jobs,
with an increase over the year of 1.9% (12,000 jobs).
Figure 6: Index of Other Industries employee jobs for Northern Ireland and the UK
Index: June 2011 =
100
Over the last 15 years the Other Industries sector in NI and the
UK has increased overall. The number of employee jobs in Other
Industries in NI has increased by 22.3% (4,530 jobs) over the 15-year
period to June 2026. UK Other Industries jobs has increased by 16.7%
(92,000 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 0.9% (2,220 jobs) over the quarter
and increased by 2.4% (5,630 jobs) over the year. Public sector jobs
have reached a new series high in June 2026 with 235,380 jobs.
Private sector jobs increased by 0.3% (2,020 jobs) over the quarter
and increased by 2.0% (11,940 jobs) over the year. Private sector jobs
have reached a new series high in June 2026 with 622,690 jobs.
Figure 7: Index of Public and Private sector employee jobs for Northern Ireland
Index: June 2011 =
100
The NI public sector made up 27.4% of all NI employee jobs in June
2026, while the private sector made up 72.6%4.
Compared with the UK overall, Northern Ireland has consistently had a greater number of public sector jobs per head of population. In June 2026, NI public sector jobs as a proportion of the NI population were 12.2%, which compares to 8.9% for the whole of the UK.
4 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 0.2% (900 jobs) over the quarter
to 563,340 jobs in June 2026.
Part-time employee jobs increased
over the same period by 1.6% (4,520 jobs) to 293,870 jobs in June 2026,
which is a new series high.
Over the year, full-time jobs
increased by 1.7% (9,610 jobs) and part-time jobs increased by 2.8%
(8,130 jobs).
Figure 8: Year-on-year change in full time and part time jobs by Quarter
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
26.5% (118,010 jobs) to June 2026.
The series low for part-time
jobs was in March 2012, and since then there has been an increase in
part-time jobs of 21.7% (52,300 jobs) to June 2026. Part-time jobs
currently account for 34.3% 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
to S
Other Industries:
Sections A, B, D, E
Further details on the section hierarchy can be
found online in the
Standard
Industrial Classification.
Figure 9 shows the changes over the quarter by Section. Over the
year, the majority of the larger changes were also within the Services
sector (G to S) and the Construction sector (F). The Services sector
currently makes up 81.6% of total employee jobs in Northern
Ireland.
The largest increase over the quarter was seen in Section Q, Human
health and social work activites which increased by 1.4% (2,020
jobs).
The second highest increase was seen in Section M, Professional, scientific and technical activites which increased by 1.5% (700 jobs). This was followed by Section O, Public administration and defence; compulsory social security which had an increase of 1.1% (600 jobs).
The largest decrease was in Section N, Administrative and support
service activities which decreased by 2.2% (1,150 jobs).
Further information
Detailed data tables
Data published within this bulletin are available to download from the QES webpage and the NISRA Data Portal. The accompanying QES tables include seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted employee jobs split by industry, male/female and working pattern (full or part time). They also include public sector jobs split by organisation and male/female.
Methodology and quality
Background documents, as well as quality and methodology information
are available on the QES
supporting information page. We have also published information
on revisions to the QES series.
UK comparisons
In previous quarters, total NI employee jobs were compared to total
UK employee jobs (industry sections A to T) and NI services jobs were
compared to total UK services jobs (industry sections G to T). From
Quarter 2 2026, industry section T has been omitted from the UK figures
to match the coverage of the QES and improve comparability.
Definition of employee jobs
Figures from the QES are included in the Labour
Market Report alongside figures from the Labour Force Survey (LFS).
The QES 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 LFS, which defines employment as the number of people in
work.
LFS employment figures are also based on a rolling
three-month period whereas the 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 (OSR) and confirmed to comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for 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.
These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by OSR in March 2010 as part of the Assessment of Labour Market Statistics for Northern Ireland with accreditation confirmed in August 2010. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice and should be labelled National Statistics (or ‘accredited official statistics’).
Our statistical practice is regulated by OSR. It 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 contact details below. 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: Andrew Wallace
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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