Covid-19: More workers than pre-pandemic, payroll data shows

An estimated 757,200 employees were shown in June 2021, higher than the February 2020 level

The number of workers on company payrolls in Northern Ireland surpassed pre-pandemic levels in June, official data suggests.

HMRC payroll data is the most timely and best single overall indicator of the labour market.

The figures showed an estimated 757,200 employees in June, above the level in February 2020.

It includes furloughed employees, who numbered around 59,000 at the end of May.

The furlough scheme is due to end in October and it has already begun to taper off.

That may be contributing to an increase in redundancies: 150 were proposed in May, 490 in June and a further 850 in the first two weeks of July.

Recent redundancies have been announced in the aerospace sector, which is expected to face the slowest recovery from the pandemic.

The introduction of the furlough scheme helped to stabilise the job market near the start of the pandemic crisis.

Other statistics also point to a generally improving jobs market

Nonetheless the number of people on payrolls fell sharply to below 740,000.

It has recovered strongly as lockdown restrictions have been eased, up by a further 1.4% in June.

Other statistics also point to a generally improving jobs market.

The total number of weekly hours worked (26.6 million) increased by 5% over the quarter (March-May) and 13% over the year, but remains 7% below the pre-pandemic value (December-February 2020).

Households reported, via the Labour Force Survey, some improvements over the quarter to March-May with an increase in the employment rate, no change in the unemployment rate, and a decrease in the economic inactivity rate.

One area where recovery has not happened is self-employment.

An estimated 96,000 people were self employed in the quarter March-May compared to 103,000 in the previous quarter and 131,000 in the same quarter in 2020.