Numbers 'Unavailable For Work' Growing

The number of people of working age in Northern Ireland who are unable to work has risen.

The figure, which has gone up by 17,000 in a year, gives the region the highest rate of 'economic inactivity' in the UK.

The percentage of the working population 'not available for employment' now sits at 30%, almost 10% above the nationwide average of 20.9%, according to the latest Northern Ireland Economic Outlook (NIEO) study.

Among those included in this category are students, people on disability living allowance, carers and homemakers.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, which compiled the research, said while the unemployment rate in Northern Ireland remained relatively low - 6.3% compared to the UK average of 7.6% and Republic of Ireland average of 11.1% - the high number of people deemed 'economically inactive' was masking the real scale of the jobless situation in the region.

However, the 'low' unemployment rate is up more than 2% on last year - with 24,000 people losing their jobs in those 12 months.

Partly as a result, the NIEO study predicted that the local economy could contract by nearly 4% in 2009, and only a modest growth of 0.5% in the following year.

Commenting, PwC's Managing Partner, Hugh Crossey said while the rate of economic decline has slowed in recent months that did not mean that the recession was over.

"The pace of decline in the manufacturing and services sectors is slowing and we are currently hopeful that the Northern Ireland economy could be set for modest growth in 2010," he said.

"House prices are beginning to stabilise, buyers are returning to the market but there is no real increase in the volume of transactions and little prospect of house price growth for some time yet," he said.

However, he also noted that the construction and manufacturing sectors are losing jobs "at a worrying rate", while activity in the retail and hospitality sectors remains low.

Mr Crossey predicted that unemployment will continue to rise in the coming months.

"Around 24,000 people have lost their jobs over the past 12 months; the economic inactivity rate is 17,000 up on the same period in 2008 and Northern Ireland is now the UK region with the lowest percentage of its working age population in employment."

The report also suggested that while all age groups have experienced rising unemployment since spring of 2008, there has been a much greater rise in the rate of unemployment for 18-24 year-olds - increasing to nearly 17% in the three months to May 2009 from around 12% last year.

(BMcC/JM)