Unemployment figures give rise to economic warning

New unemployment figures published on Wednesday 12 September show that 5.9 per cent of the Northern Ireland workforce is currently unemployed. This represents a fall of 0.3 per cent on figures for the previous year.

Statistics for the period May–July 2001 show that there are now 46,000 persons unemployed according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition. In addition, new figures from the Quarterly Employment Survey have recorded the creation of 645,200 employee jobs, the highest June figure on record.

There has also been a drop in the numbers of those claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA). There are now 39,000 JSA claimants in Northern Ireland, the lowest level since September 1975, representing 4.9 per cent of the workforce - and a fall of 1,600 over the year.

However, despite the results, Economy Minister Sir Reg Empey has issued a strong economic warning. He said: "While on the face of it, the figures are good, there can be no getting away from the fact that the global economy is suffering from the impact of a downturn in the technology sector. We cannot afford to be complacent about them.

"There are 1,370 redundancies in the pipeline which have been notified to the Department in previous months and have yet to take place.

"Added to that, and as a direct result of scenes of street violence beamed around the world, Northern Ireland is again having to cope with the age old problems of its image and its international credibility as a place to do business. These factors are bound to impact on both the short-term and the long-term success of the local economy which cannot and will not meet its anticipated growth if this situation continues," the Minister added.

Meanwhile, responding to the Irish unemployment figures for August issued by the Central Statistics Office on Friday 7th September, Mary Harney, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment said that she also believed the rise in the Live Register reflected “the impact on the Irish economy of foot-and-mouth disease and the general slowdown in the international economy".

The data for the second quarter of 2001 showed that the Ireland’s unemployment rate stood at 3.7 per cent. (CL)