Northern Ireland jobs market still strong with payrolls rising

The number of people on company payrolls stood at an estimated 783,800, a monthly increase of 0.2%

Northern Ireland's jobs market has remained reasonably strong despite the economy entering recession in the third quarter of 2022.

The latest figures suggest company payrolls were still rising in December and that the employment rate increased in the September-November quarter.

The only negative indicator was a fourth consecutive monthly increase in people claiming unemployment benefits.

Experimental data suggests the typical employee saw a pay rise of 6.3%.

This compared to inflation of about 10%.

The employment rate, which is the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work, increased by 1.4 percentage points over the quarter and by 3.3 percentage points over the year to 71.3%, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).

The annual change was statistically significant.

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The economic inactivity rate, the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 who were not working and not seeking or available to work, fell by 1.2 percentage points over the quarter and by 2.8 percentage points over the year to 26.6%.

The annual change was statistically significant.

The unemployment rate also saw marginal quarterly and annual declines to 2.8%.

The number of people on company payrolls stood at an estimated 783,800, a monthly increase of 0.2%.

Payroll numbers are the only major indicator which has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

A much weaker recovery in self-employment means that the overall employment rate remains 1.2 percentage points below level recorded in December-February 2020.

The unemployment rate remains 0.3 percentage points above the pre-pandemic position and the economic inactivity rate 1 percentage point above the pre-pandemic rate.

The total numbers of hours worked has almost recovered to pre-pandemic levels: in September-November 2022 it was 0.6% below the position recorded in December-February 2020.