NI economy: Number of workers on payrolls drops in June

11 July 2023

By Clodagh Rice

BBC News NI

The number of people on company payrolls in Northern Ireland fell slightly in June.

Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) figures show that HMRC payroll employees fell by 0.2% to 788,400.

That is still 1.6% higher than the same time last year.

The figures show improvements over the year with payrolled employee numbers and earnings having both increased.

Northern Ireland employees had an average monthly pay of £2,099 in June 2023, an increase of 7.3% over the year.

The unemployment rate for March to May 2023 at 2.5% is now equal to the pre-pandemic position between December to February 2020.

That is below the UK unemployment rate of 4%.

The number of people in work, or Northern Ireland's employment rate, was unchanged from the previous quarter at 72%.

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

In comparison, the UK employment rate was 76%.

Companies must inform the Department for the Economy of planned redundancies of 20 or more employees.

It was notified of 1,960 proposed redundancies in June 2023 - that is the highest monthly proposed total reported since June 2020.

There were 210 confirmed redundancies last month.

Economic inactivity

The rate of economic inactivity for March to May 2023 was 26.1%, well above the UK rate of 20.8%.

Someone is classed as economically inactive if they are not in work and not looking for work.

That includes people who are retired, in full-time education, sick or disabled and those with caring responsibilities.

The most common reason for economic inactivity among the working age population was long-term sick.

There were 123,000 long-term sick, accounting for 39.9% of the total economically inactive, or 10.5% of the working age population.

This was 7.2% higher than the same time last year and 23.5% higher than the pre-pandemic levels.