Northern Ireland sees rise in unemployment

While the number of people without work in the UK has risen by 15,000 in the last three months, Northern Ireland has seen a more modest increase in unemployment - by only 0.3 per cent on the previous quarter.

In addition, the increase in benefit claimants was lower than had been expected both nationally and locally. Claimant count unemployment in NI at December was 36,587 (4.6 per cent), down 0.5 percentage points on the rate for one year earlier.

New seasonally adjusted figures relating to job seekers allowance in the province have also been released, and they show a drop in the number of claimants. There are now 38,100 JSA claimants in Northern Ireland, which is a fall of 3,800 over the year and a fall of 200 over the month.

The UK economy has been hard hit by the recession affecting the manufacturing sector, which also now threatens to affect the service sector – which has so far remained, for the most, immune to the negative fluctuations thanks to the current strength of consumer spending. With employment in manufacturing now at its lowest level since records began in 1978, there exists the real risk of a similar slowdown spreading throughout the UK economy.

The UK unemployment rate stands at 3.2 per cent, with the ILO unemployment rate in NI at 6.3 per cent - 1.4 percentage points lower than the EU 15 average of 7.7 per cent. (CL)