NI In Top Four Of UK Unemployment League

Details of the local labour market have been published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA) and taken along with parallel national data, some of it makes grim reading.

It has emerged that West Belfast and Foyle, Co Londonderry rank at numbers three and four in a league table of UK constituencies worst affected by unemployment.

This information came from a House of Commons study that looked at all 650 parliamentary constituencies and ranked them according to levels of unemployment.

The report from the House of Commons Library examined the number claiming benefits as a proportion of the economically active population.

Other new figures from separate official NISRA data shows that the Northern Ireland seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, as measured by the Labour Force Survey (LFS), was estimated at 7.3% for the period July - September 2011.

This was unchanged from the rate recorded in the previous quarter but was up from the rate of 7.0% recorded one year ago.

However, the Northern Ireland unemployment rate remained below the UK average rate (8.3%) and was also lower than the European Union (9.5%) and Republic of Ireland (14.6%) rates for August 2011.

Unadjusted LFS estimates for July - September 2011 show that 40.8% of those unemployed in Northern Ireland have been unemployed for one year or more. They also record the unemployment rate for 18-24 year olds at 19.1%.

The seasonally adjusted number of people claiming unemployment related benefits stood at 60,700 in October 2011 – up 100 (0.2%) from the revised figure for the previous month.

The latest monthly increase in Northern Ireland (0.2%) was similar to the monthly rise of 0.3% in the UK as a whole. Over the year, the Northern Ireland claimant count has increased by 4.3% (2,500), compared to an increase of 9.3% in the UK.

However, the annual increase in Northern Ireland was the lowest among the twelve UK regions.

Estimates for the period July - September 2011 showed that there were 799,000 people in employment in Northern Ireland. This estimate was down 0.5% on the previous quarter, but up 2.8% over the year.

The seasonally adjusted number of working age7 persons that were economically inactive increased by 7,000 (2.2%) over the quarter and the corresponding working age economic inactivity rate increased to 27.1% (in July - September 2011).

The Northern Ireland inactivity rate (27.1%) remained above the UK average rate (23.3%) and was the highest rate among the 12 UK regions.

In July - September 2011 an estimated 32% of the economically inactive of working age in Northern Ireland were sick/disabled, 30% were students, 21% were looking after the family/home, 11% were retired and 6% were ‘other’ reason.

On redundancies, there were 94 confirmed redundancies notified in October 2011, compared to 62 in September 2011 and 119 in October 2010.

There has been a 30% decrease in the number of confirmed redundancies over the last year to 31st October 2011 – 1,733 compared to 2,486 in the previous year.

Commenting on the figures, Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said: "The latest unemployment rate in Northern Ireland remained at 7.3%, a figure well below the equivalent rates for the UK (8.3%), European Union (9.5%) and Republic of Ireland (14.6%).

"However, I am very much aware that this will be of little consolation to those currently out of work in Northern Ireland, who have to deal with the stress and strain that unemployment places on family life.

"The Executive's Programme for Government and Economic Strategy will set the direction for economic progress over the next few years."

The DUP Minister continued: "In response to the challenging times that many businesses are currently facing, Invest Northern Ireland is promoting the wide range of support available through the Boosting Business initiative," she added.

Shameful

An SDLP councillor, Tim Attwood has said the fact that West Belfast ranks at number three in a league table of UK constituencies' worst affected by unemployment, according to new research is shameful.

"Unemployment is a devastating reminder of the failure of government departments and others to prioritise West Belfast for jobs and investment and the lack of an effective joined up strategic approach to tackle poverty and disadvantage," he said.

"These figures are an indictment of agencies such as Invest NI and Department of Education and Learning whose top priority should be West Belfast.

"Searching and serious questions need to be asked about their performance.

"Invest NI (INI) figures show that West Belfast got the lowest amount of financial assistance than any other parliamentary constituency in Northern Ireland and that no new jobs were promoted in West Belfast in the 2010/11 financial year, in comparison to 759 in East Belfast, 624 in South and 48 in North," he claimed.

"It is now time for INI to develop a coordinated and strategic approach to investment and job promotion in the west of the city. "INI should be working in partnership with local political representatives and the business community to showcase and promote investment," he added.

(BMcC/GK)