Northern Ireland Labour Market Statistics

The labour market statistics were published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

Payrolled employees increased over the month and median earnings decreased

• The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in September 2024 was 806,700, an increase of 0.1% over the month and 1.5% over the year.
• Earnings data from HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £2,241 in September 2024, an increase of £70 (3.0%) over the month and an increase of £139 (6.6%) over the year. 
• The estimates from HMRC PAYE for the latest period, are based on early data and, therefore, are more likely to be subject to larger revisions.

Increase in the seasonally adjusted claimant count rate over the month

• In September 2024, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 42,000 (4.3% of the workforce), an increase of 2.3% from the previous month’s revised figure. The September 2024 claimant count remains 40.7% higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020. These increases are largely due to the increase in the administrative earnings threshold for Universal Credit in May 2024.

Proposed redundancies lower than previous year while confirmed redundancies remain higher

• NISRA, acting on behalf of the Department for the Economy, received confirmation that 190 redundancies occurred in September 2024. Over the year October 2023 to September 2024, 2,310 redundancies were confirmed, which was approximately 30 percent higher than the figure for the previous year (1,810).
• There were 410 proposed redundancies in September 2024, taking the annual total to 3,000, which was around three-quarters of the figure for the previous year (3,970).

Labour Force Survey headline measures

• The latest NI seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (the proportion of economically active people aged 16 and over who were unemployed) for the period June-August 2024 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 1.9%. This was a decrease of 0.1 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and a decrease of 0.5pps over the year.
• The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) decreased by 0.9pps over the quarter and decreased by 0.4pps over the year to 70.2%.
• The total number of weekly hours worked in NI was estimated at 27.8 million hours, a decrease of 1.9% on the previous quarter and an increase of 1.5% on the equivalent period last year.
• The economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 who were not working and not seeking or available to work) increased by 1.1pps over the quarter and increased by 0.7pps over the year to 28.5%.

Commentary

• The latest Labour Market release shows that over the year both payrolled employee numbers and earnings have increased. Furthermore, there was little change over the year in the Labour Force Survey employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity rates.
• The latest HMRC payroll data shows that payrolled employees increased by 0.1% over the month and by 1.5% over the year. Payrolled earnings decreased by 3.0% over the month and were 6.6% higher than September 2023.
• Households reported, via the Labour Force Survey (LFS), over the year to June-August 2024, a 0.7pps increase in the economic inactivity rate (to 28.5%), a decrease of 0.5pps in the unemployment rate (to 1.9%) and a decrease of 0.4pps in the employment rate (to 70.2%). None of these annual changes were statistically significant.
• The total number of hours worked in June-August 2024 increased by 1.5% over the year, to 27.8 million hours per week. This is 3.1% below the pre-pandemic position recorded in December-February 2020.
• There was an increase of 2.3% in the claimant count estimate over the month to September 2024, from the revised figure for August 2024. The claimant count rate for September 2024 was 4.3%, an increase from the revised rate for August 2024 (4.2%) and the highest rate since December 2021. These increases are largely due to the increase in the administrative earnings threshold for Universal Credit introduced in May 2024.
• Finally, in September 2024, the Department was notified of 190 confirmed redundancies, bringing the rolling twelve-month total of confirmed redundancies to 2,310, approximately 30 percent higher than the figure for the previous year (1,810). There were also 410 proposed redundancies reported to the Department in September 2024, which brought the annual total of proposed redundancies to 3,000, around three-quarters of the figure for the previous year (3,970). Both the rolling twelve-month totals of proposed and confirmed redundancies are similar to the levels seen in the decade preceding the pandemic.