There’s no sign yet of a major downturn in the Northern Ireland jobs market despite concerns among businesses about the impact of next month’s increase in National Insurance employers’ contributions.
In fact, the official data suggests companies were continuing to add staff in January and February.
There were just 150 redundancies announced in February, less than the monthly averages for 2023 and 2024.
The employment rate, the proportion of working age adults in a job, was 72.2% in the period from November to January.
That was unchanged from the previous quarter but down slightly compared to the same period in 2024.
Responding to today’s Labour Market Report, Chief Executive of the Labour Relations Agency, Mark McAllister said:
“Today’s figures suggest anything from ‘as you were’ to encouraging signs of Northern Ireland being a positive outlier with businesses reporting, via the Quarterly Employment Survey, an increase in employee jobs in NI over the quarter and the year, reaching a new series high of 832,180 in December 2024.
“When combined with the fact that there has been no seismic shift in the number of redundancies reported, the picture may not be as glum as some might suggest. Indeed, both the twelve-month totals of proposed and confirmed redundancies are similar to the levels seen in the decade preceding the pandemic. As we hurtle towards the end of the fiscal year you could be forgiven for being upbeat, but then again April changes are literally around the corner.”
Meanwhile, Rachel Richardson from the Employment team at top law firm DWF, commented:
“The most recent labour market figures for Northern Ireland show sustained strength in the face of tough economic circumstances. The figures show that over the year both payrolled employee numbers and earnings have increased, while employee jobs have also increased to a new series high. From the Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate saw a decrease. However, the employment rate has also decreased, and the economic inactivity rate has increased. “