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Unemployment claimants in Northern Ireland rise by 119 per cent in two months

The number of people on the north's unemployment claimant count increased by 119.5 per cent in two months. 
The number of people on the north's unemployment claimant count increased by 119.5 per cent in two months.  The number of people on the north's unemployment claimant count increased by 119.5 per cent in two months. 
By Ryan McAleer

THE number of people claiming unemployment benefits more than doubled in two months, according to the latest Northern Ireland labour market statistics.

A total of 5,700 new claimants were recorded during the month of May, bringing the number of people on the unemployment claimant count to 65,200, or seven per cent of the workforce.

It’s the highest peak since March 1997, marking a 119.5 per cent increase from the 29,700 claimants recorded during March.

But the 10 per cent increase in claimants during May is far short of the 90 per cent spike recorded for April.

The true impact of the coronavirus lockdown on the labour market may be unclear for several months, due to the introduction of the UK Government’s Job Retention Scheme and Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

HMRC last week confirmed that around 280,000 people were registered across both schemes at the end of May, equivalent to 30 per cent of all employment.

A total of 342 redundancies were proposed during the month of May according to the Northern Ireland Research and Statistics Agency (NISRA), down from the 783 proposed during April.

However, the number of job losses proposed during the first two weeks of June hit 1,427.

One in five of the claimants (13,400) in the north were aged 16-24 during May, up 126 per cent since March.

A recent Ulster University report highlighted that the Covid-19 crisis had disproportionately hit the under 25s.

Meanwhile UK-wide data revealed that the number of workers on company payrolls slumped by more than 600,000 between March and May, while and unemployment claims soared by 1.6 million.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said early estimates showed the number of paid employees dropped by 2.1 per cent or 612,000 in May compared with March, while job vacancies also slumped to a record low last month.