Jobs figures: NI pay packets continue to grow in April

Pay packets continued to grow in April

Pay packets in Northern Ireland continued to grow in April with typical monthly pay of £2,192.

That is an increase of £140 or 6.8% in 12 months.

Wages in NI still lag the UK average monthly pay of £2,381 in April, which was an increase of 6.9% or £153 over the year.

The latest figures from HMRC also show the unemployment rate for January to March was 2.1% - down 0.3% on the year and the lowest of the UK regions.

The proportion of people in work rose by 1% over the year to 71.8% - the highest level since before the pandemic.

However it is still well below the UK rate of 74.5%.

The number of people not in work and not looking for a job - the economically inactive, for example students, carers or sick - decreased by 0.8% over the year to 26.6%.

The rate in Northern Ireland continues to be significantly higher than the UK average of 22.1%.

• Number of NI employees up slightly in January

• Northern Ireland employment rate returns to pre-pandemic peak

The most common reason for economic inactivity was "long-term sick", with 122,000 making up 39.2% of the total economically inactive.

Meanwhile, the number of people in Northern Ireland on company payrolls dipped last month which could be a sign of the jobs market softening.

The figures show that in April there were 799,600 employees on company payrolls - that's 0.3% lower than March but 1.3% higher than the same time last year.