The Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA) has released the latest Labour Market Statistics, offering insights into employment, earnings, redundancies, and economic activity as of March 2025.
Payrolled Employees and Earnings
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The number of employees receiving pay via HMRC PAYE stood at 810,700 in March 2025, marking a 0.1% monthly increase and a 1.4% rise over the year.
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Median monthly earnings reached £2,359, up £49 (2.1%) from the previous month and £191 (8.8%) higher year-on-year.
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These figures are based on provisional HMRC data and may be revised.
Labour Force Survey Highlights (Dec 2024 – Feb 2025)
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Unemployment rate: 1.5%, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous quarter and 0.7 points year-on-year.
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Employment rate: 71.3%, showing declines of 1.3 points over the quarter and 1.4 points over the year.
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Total hours worked: 29.0 million weekly hours, down 4.3% quarter-on-quarter but up 1.6% from the same period last year.
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Economic inactivity: 27.5%, reflecting increases of 1.4 points over the quarter and 1.9 points year-on-year.
Claimant Count and Redundancies
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The seasonally adjusted claimant count stood at 39,700 (4.1%) in March 2025, down 0.5% from February. However, this figure remains 33.1% above pre-pandemic levels (March 2020).
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Redundancies:
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140 confirmed in March 2025.
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1,770 redundancies confirmed over the past year, approximately 70% of the previous year’s total (2,520).
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3,060 proposed redundancies in the 12 months to March 2025, around 80% of the prior year’s figure (3,890).
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Redundancy levels are now more in line with pre-pandemic norms.
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Summary Commentary
The data reflects a mixed but relatively stable labour market. While payroll numbers and earnings have seen annual growth, the employment rate has dipped slightly, and economic inactivity is up. The number of weekly hours worked is back to pre-pandemic levels, but slightly below the record highs seen in late 2019. Redundancy rates are down compared to last year and align with long-term averages.
The claimant count has remained between 4.0% and 4.2% for the past nine months, indicating consistency in the unemployment benefit landscape.
