Local jobs figures hit new high

Northern Ireland currently has the highest number of employee jobs on record according to latest figures.

The seasonally adjusted employee jobs total at September 2003 stands at 669,470 and represents a net increase of 5,600 jobs over the year, however, the service sector continues to perform well with an increase of some 10,010 jobs over the year.

Commenting on the figures, Enterprise Minister, Ian Pearson said: "The continuing growth in jobs is welcome. We are doing better than most of our competitors in what everybody agrees have been difficult global trading conditions.

“Seasonally adjusted figures released this morning for the period August – October 2003 show there are approximately 45,000 people unemployed which has remained unchanged from the estimate one year earlier.

"The overall picture shows that unemployment at 5.9% is relatively flat and remains at a moderately low level.”

As it stands the Northern Ireland seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is lower than two other UK regions: North East (6.9%) and London (6.7%) and identical to the rate in the West Midlands (5.9%).

“Within the context of a global slowdown, the Northern Ireland economy is performing well. However, these are testing times, and there have been a considerable number of job losses in Northern Ireland during the last year. Nevertheless, employment potential remains relatively strong in Northern Ireland as a whole, particularly in the service industries," the Minister.

(MB)