Workers' pay: Typical pay rises fall far behind inflation in NI

When prices are rising significantly faster than pay it means that living standards are suffering

Northern Ireland's economy is continuing to create jobs but typical pay rises have fallen far below the rate of inflation, official figures suggest.

HMRC data indicates the typical worker's pay was about 4% higher in January compared to the same month in 2022.

The UK's main rate of inflation in December was 10.5%.

The inflation data for January is due to be published on Wednesday.

When prices, as measured by the inflation rate, are rising significantly faster than pay it means that living standards are suffering.

The HMRC data suggests that Northern Ireland employees had typical monthly pay of £2,012 in January 2023, an increase of £4 (0.2%) over the month and an increase of £76 (3.9%) over the year.

Official figures suggest that the Northern Ireland economy entered a technical recession in the summer of 2022.

However, that reduction in economic output appears to have had little negative effect on the jobs market.

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Figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) show the employment rate for October-December 2022 had a statistically significant increase over both the quarter and year to 71.9%.

The employment rate is the percentage of working age adults who are in a job.

That rate of 71.9% represents an estimated 872,000 employed people, up 21,000 on the previous quarter and up 38,000 on the same period a year ago.

The October-December quarter showed the highest employment rate since just before the pandemic at the end of 2019 when it was 72.4%.

Nisra said: "Measures of total employment, unemployment and economic inactivity continue to show improvement over the year but have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic position."