Unemployment rate in Northern Ireland at record low

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

Northern Ireland's unemployment rate reached a record low of just 2.1% between July and September, new official figures suggest.

The previous low of 2.4% was reached just before the onset of the pandemic at the end of 2019.

The figures also show that the employment rate increased over the quarter and over the year to 72.2%.

That is just below the pre-pandemic rate of 72.4%.

The number of employed people aged 16 and over was estimated at 874,000, which was up by 7,000 from the previous quarter and up by 23,000 from the same period in 2022.

The employment rate was still below the most recent average UK rate of 75.7%.

In recent years the Northern Ireland labour market has been characterised by an unemployment rate which is lower than the UK average, but an economic inactivity rate which is substantially higher.

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.

High inactivity rate

Northern Ireland has consistently had the highest rate of inactivity of any UK region.

The economic inactivity rate (for people aged 16 to 64) for July-September was estimated at 26.3%, which was down slightly over the quarter and by 1.4 percentage points over the year.

The most recent average UK inactivity rate (April-June 2023) was 20.9%.

The most common reason for economic inactivity among the working age population in Northern Ireland is long-term sickness.

In the most recent period there were 128,000 people classified as long-term sick, accounting for 41.7% of the total economically inactive.

This was 24,000 (23.3%) higher than the pre-pandemic figure in October-December 2019.

Other official figures suggest that the sharp increases in average cash pay are now levelling off.

Figures from HMRC suggest that typically monthly pay in October was £2,100, up just 0.1% on September and the same as it was in June.

The figures suggest that typical monthly pay has risen by more than 13% in cash terms over the last two years as workers sought pay rises to counteract the impact of inflation.