14/09/2005

Employment reaches all time high in NI

The latest labour market figures, released today, show Northern Ireland currently has the highest number of employee jobs on record.

Seasonally adjusted figures from the Quarterly Employment Survey estimated that there were 692,960 employee jobs filled in June 2005, which represents a net increase of 1,040 over the quarter and an increase of 13,880 over the year. Nearly 70% of the annual increase in jobs was accounted for by a rise in full-time work.

Relatively low levels of unemployment in Northern Ireland have also been maintained throughout the last year. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was estimated at 5.1% for the period May – July 2005, up slightly from 4.9% in the previous quarter and 5.0% for the same period last year.

Over the last three months, the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits fell by 900. The latest seasonally adjusted claimant count figure stands at 28,000, down 1,700 over the year.

Commenting on the figures, Enterprise Minister Angela Smith said: "This is very positive news for Northern Ireland. The working age population is showing increased labour market participation and the number of jobs is at a record high."

As it stands, the Northern Ireland unemployment rate (5.1%) is 0.4 percentage points higher than the UK average (4.7%), but is lower than the rates for three UK regions; the North East (6.9%), London (6.7%) and Scotland (5.5%). It is also considerably lower than the EU25 average (8.8%) for June 2005.

(MB/SP)

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