Number Of Employees In NI Dropped In December 2024

Last month saw the biggest dip since August 2020 in the number of employees in Northern Ireland on company payrolls. The figures on employment have been largely positive over the last few months, so this is the first setback for some time.

However it is not all doom and gloom as the number of employees on payrolls is still 0.6% higher than it was in December 2023. These by the way are the official figures from HMRC.

803,000 Employees In Northern Ireland Last Month

Here are some more figures which have been compiled by the HMRC, as copied from an article by Clodagh Rice on the BBC News website:

‘HMRC data suggests there were 803,000 employees in Northern Ireland last month, that’s down 0.3% on November and the largest decrease since August 2020.

‘Typical monthly pay in Northern Ireland was £2,291 in December – that’s an increase of £139 or 6.5% higher than a year earlier.

‘But Northern Ireland remains the lowest paying UK region, with pay packets continuing to lag behind the UK average of £2,457 in December.

‘The unemployment rate for September to November 2024 fell to 1.7% which was the lowest on record and the lowest of the 12 UK regions.

‘The proportion of people in work, known as the employment rate rose slightly to 72.6%.

‘The rate of economic inactivity rose over the year to 26.1%.

‘It refers to people who are not in work nor looking for a job, for example students, carers, and the long term sick.

‘Northern Ireland has the highest rate of economic inactivity of the 12 UK regions.

‘The most common reason for being economically inactive was long term sickness which accounted for about 39% of the total or 123,000 people.’

The Number Of Economically Inactive People Is A Big Issue To Solve

The fact that so many people are economically inactive is a really big issue. It costs the economy a huge amount of money and makes it far harder to engender growth and wealth. There needs to be a concerted effort to find a solution to this issue so that we can encourage more people back into work, whether that be full-time or part-time.

In the same article on the BBC News website Chief executive of the Labour Relations Agency Mark McAllister said:

“Today’s headline figures will no doubt generate headlines regarding the labour market beginning to cool, especially when viewed through the lens of the last number of years.”

And on the subject of there being such a high proportion of people economically inactive he went on to say:

“There is little doubt that this policy issue is recognised as being the most challenging and requires long-term solutions and a seismic shift in policy direction on everything from benefits to flexible working.”