Business

Brexit fails to impact on positive employment figures

The unemployment rate remained unchanged from the previous quarter (5.3 per cent) and above the UK average of 4.4 per cent
The unemployment rate remained unchanged from the previous quarter (5.3 per cent) and above the UK average of 4.4 per cent The unemployment rate remained unchanged from the previous quarter (5.3 per cent) and above the UK average of 4.4 per cent

THE number of people in employment in Northern Ireland has increased according to the latest figures.

The latest Labour Force Survey (LFS) figures are the first to contain four full quarters of post EU referendum data and are mostly positive with decreases in unemployment over the year resulting in the joint lowest rate since the economic downturn, together with improvements in the employment rate over the quarter and the year.

However the economic inactivity rate has varied throughout the year; decreasing over the quarter and increasing marginally over the year.

The survey, published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, shows that the employment rate grew by 0.8 per cent to 69.2 per cent over the quarter to June and 0.1 per cent over the year. The positive data is accompanied by a decrease in the economic inactivity rate, which fell by 0.8 per cent between April and June to 26.9 per cent. The figure is 0.5 per cent higher than the June 2016 rate.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged from the previous quarter (5.3 per cent) and above the UK average of 4.4 per cent. The Northern Ireland unemployment rate remains below both the Republic of Ireland (6.3 per cent) and European Union levels (7.8 per cent) and is down on the same period last year (6 per cent)

The more recent seasonally adjusted number of people claiming unemployment related benefits stood at 29,800 (3.3 per cent of the workforce) in July, representing a fall of 700 from June. The same figures also show that redundancies have decreased over the year.

In the 12 month to July 31 there has been a 30 per cent decrease in the number of confirmed redundancies from 3,229 in the previous year to 2,245. Last month there were a total 77 confirmed redundancies.

Overall there is little evidence of a significant impact on the local labour market that could be attributed to the EU referendum in the year following the vote.