Wages Continue To Grow In Northern Ireland

Wages have been on the rise in the last few months across the UK and Northern Ireland is no exception to the rule. Wages were on the up again in April figures show, with an average persons monthly pay now rising to £2192.

They have increased by 6.8% over the last 12 months here in NI, which is slightly less than the UK average of 6.9%. An overall increase in a working persons pay packet has to be a good thing as this puts more money in their pockets to spend, they will more likely than not be happier with their daily lot, and they will spend more which will in turn boost the economy. That is of course as long as inflation does not rise by a higher margin.

The Economy Is A Very Finely Balanced Mechanism

For businesses higher wages for their employees means higher expenditure but a better standard of living for everybody will encourage growth and impact positively on their sales figures all things being equal. The economy is a very finely balanced mechanism that will wobble at the first opportunity so it has to be managed very carefully at all times.

Figures Show The Unemployment Rate Is Down

Here are some more figures as copied from an article on the BBC News website:

‘The latest figures from HMRC also show the unemployment rate for January to March was 2.1% – down 0.3% on the year and the lowest of the UK regions.

‘The proportion of people in work rose by 1% over the year to 71.8% – the highest level since before the pandemic.

‘However it is still well below the UK rate of 74.5%.

‘The number of people not in work and not looking for a job – the economically inactive, for example students, carers or sick – decreased by 0.8% over the year to 26.6%.

‘The rate in Northern Ireland continues to be significantly higher than the UK average of 22.1%.

‘The most common reason for economic inactivity was “long-term sick”, with 122,000 making up 39.2% of the total economically inactive.

‘Meanwhile, the number of people in Northern Ireland on company payrolls dipped last month which could be a sign of the jobs market softening.

‘The figures show that in April there were 799,600 employees on company payrolls – that’s 0.3% lower than March but 1.3% higher than the same time last year.’

The long-term sick issue is rife across the UK. Since Covid-19 this has spiralled alarmingly and we can only hope that these figures will eventually begin to decrease as we put the terrible pandemic well and truly behind us.