The labour market statistics have been published by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.
Almost 10,500 redundancies proposed since March
- 11,000 collective redundancies were proposed in the twelve months to the end of December, more than double the number recorded in the previous twelve months. Almost 10,500 were proposed in the ten months since March alone.
- During December, 340 redundancies were proposed, a decrease on the previous month’s total of 1,370, and 440 redundancies were confirmed, a slight increase from the total of 420 confirmed in November.
NI Claimant Count (Experimental Series) decreases over the month
- In December 2020, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 58,400 (6.3% of the workforce), which is a decrease of 1.3% from the previous month’s revised figure and 9.1% below the recent peak in May. The claimant count is currently at levels previously seen in 2012 and 2013.
Payrolled employees and employee earnings increased over the month to November
- The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in November 2020 was 740,800, a marginal increase of less than 0.1% over the month and a decrease of 1.1% over the year. The flash estimate for December shows an increase of 0.2% on November’s figure to 742,200.
- Earnings from the HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £1,781 in November 2020, an increase of 0.4% over the month and 5.6% from the same time last year. The flash estimate for December shows an increase of 0.7% from November’s figure.
The unemployment rate decreased over the quarter and increased over the year
- The latest NI seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (the proportion of economically active people aged 16+ who were unemployed) for the period September-November 2020 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 3.2%. The unemployment rate decreased over the quarter by 0.5 percentage points (pps) and increased by 0.9pps over the year. Although recent changes were not statistically significant, the unemployment rate was significantly above rates at the beginning of 2020.
- The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) decreased over the quarter by 0.1pps and over the year by 2.0pps to 70.6%. Although recent changes were not statistically significant, the employment rate remains significantly above rates in 2017.
- The economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 who were not working and not seeking or available to work) increased over the quarter by 0.4pps and over the year by 1.3pps to 27.0%. Although recent changes were not statistically significant, the economic inactivity rate remains significantly below rates in 2010.
- Put into the context of the UK, NI had the lowest unemployment rate, the lowest employment rate and the highest economic inactivity rate of all the UK regions.
Commentary
- The latest labour market data show that employment remains below pre-covid levels, while measures of unemployment are higher than pre-covid levels.
- Labour Force Survey data for September-November shows the unemployment (3.2%) and employment (70.6%) rates decreased, and the economic inactivity (27.0%) rate increased over the quarter. The September-November economic inactivity and unemployment rates are 1.4pps and 0.7pps above their pre-covid levels (December to February 2020) respectively and the employment rate is 1.9pps below. The majority of the decrease in employment since the start of the year has been due to decreases in the number of self-employed.
- During 2020, 11,000 collective redundancies were proposed and 4,700 were confirmed to have taken place; the highest in the last ten years.
ENDS
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