Labour Market Statistics

Labor market statistics were published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

Labor market statistics were published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

Key points

Salaried employees and monthly income increased during the month

• The number of employees paid through HMRC PAYE in NI in October 2023 was 797,400, an increase of 0.3% over the month and an increase of 2.0% over the year.
• HMRC PAYE earnings data indicated that NI employees had an average monthly salary of £2,100 in October 2023, up £2 (0.1%) over the month and £118 (6.0%) over year.
• When considering the annual change in revenue by industry through October 2023, finance and insurance was the only sector that experienced a decrease (1.9%). The smallest annual increases were observed in Public Administration and Defense, and Education, which increased by 2.8%, a figure lower than the IN average (6.0%).

Claimant count rate remains relatively constant from last year

• In October 2023, the seasonally adjusted number of people in the applicant count was 37,100 (3.8% of the workforce), a decrease of 0.2% from the previous month's revised figure. The October 2023 applicant count remains 24.2% higher than the pre-pandemic March 2020 count.

Proposed layoffs triple last year's total

Employment and unemployment rates from the Active Population Survey show statistically significant changes throughout the year

• The IN's latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (the proportion of economically active people aged 16 and over who were unemployed) for the period July-September 2023 was estimated from the Labor Force Survey at 2.1%. This represented a decrease of 0.6 percentage points (pps) during the quarter and 0.9 pps compared to the same period last year. Both changes were statistically significant.
• The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in employment (the employment rate) increased 0.8 percentage points over the quarter and 2.2 percentage points over the year, to 72.2%. The annual change was statistically significant.
• The total number of weekly hours worked in NI (27.8 million) decreased by 2.8% during the quarter and increased by 4.9% during the year.
• The economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people ages 16 to 64 who were not working and were not looking for or available for work) decreased 0.2 percentage points over the quarter and 1.4 percentage points over the year, to 26.3%.

Comment

• The latest labor market publication shows that throughout the year both the number of salaried employees and income have increased. Additionally, the Labor Force Survey's employment, unemployment and economic inactivity rates have evolved in a favorable direction compared to a year ago.
• The latest HMRC payroll data shows the number of salaried employees increased by 0.3% over the month and 2.0% over the year. Income per employee increased 0.1% during the month and was 6.0% higher than in October 2022.
• Households reported, through the Labor Force Survey (EPA), an increase of 2.2 percentage points in the employment rate during the year to July-September 2023, up to 72.2%, while there were decreases over the year to July-September 2023 in both economic inactivity (by 1.4 points to 26.3%) and the unemployment rate (by 0.9 points to 2.1%). Both annual changes in employment and unemployment were statistically significant. In July-September 2023, the unemployment rate was 0.2 points below the pre-pandemic rate recorded in October-December 2019, while the employment rate in July-September 2023 was only 0.1 points below from the pre-pandemic position. The economic inactivity rate was 0.5 points above the pre-pandemic position recorded in October-December 2019.
• The total number of hours worked between July and September 2023 increased by 4.9% year-on-year, up to 27.8 million hours per week. This is 4.5% below the pre-pandemic position recorded in October-December 2019.
• Additionally, the Department was notified of 450 confirmed layoffs in October 2023, bringing the total of confirmed layoffs in consecutive twelve months to 2,200. This figure was more than double the previous year (940) and is the twelve-month total consecutive highest since January 2022. The Department has also been notified of 4,000 proposed redundancies during the year between November 2022 and October 2023. The highest twelve-month rolling total since September 2021 and is similar to the levels observed in the decade before the pandemic.
• Finally, there was a small 0.2% decrease in the applicant count estimate for the month through October 2023 from the revised September 2023 figure. The applicant count rate in October 2023 remained the same as the previous three months, at 3.8%. This is also the 19th consecutive month that the applicant count rate has been within the 3.6% to 3.8% range.

Notes to editors:

1. The statistical report and associated tables are available at: Labor Market Report - November 2023
2. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency would like to thank participating households for taking part in the Labor Force Survey.
3. 'Over the quarter' refers to comparisons between the latest quarterly estimates for the period July-September 2023 and the previous quarter (i.e. April-June 2023). 'Over the year' refers to comparisons between the latest quarterly estimates for the period July-September 2023 and those for the corresponding quarter one year earlier (i.e. July-September 2022). Changes that are considered significant in a statistical sense (i.e., when the estimated change exceeded the expected variability of a sample survey of this size and would likely reflect an actual change) will be specifically highlighted.
4. Estimates for July-September 2023 should be compared with estimates for April-June 2023. This provides a more robust estimate than comparison with estimates for June-August 2023, as data for July and August are included. in both estimates.
5. The official measure of unemployment comes from the Labor Force Survey. This measure of unemployment refers to jobless people who were available for work and had looked for work in the past four weeks or were waiting to start work. This is the definition of the International Labor Organization. Estimates from the Labor Force Survey are subject to sampling errors. This means that the exact figure is likely to be contained in a range surrounding the quoted estimate. For example, the unemployment rate is likely to fall within 0.6 percentage points of the estimate cited (i.e., between 1.6% and 2.7%).
6. The claimant count is an administrative data source derived from Employment and Benefits Office systems, which records the number of people applying for unemployment-related benefits. In March 2018, the NI claimant count measure changed from one based solely on Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) to an experimental measure based on JSA claimants and unemployed Universal Credit (UC) claimants claiming primarily for be unemployed. . Those claiming unemployment-related benefits (either UC or JSA) may be totally unemployed and looking for work, or they may be employed but with low income and/or few hours of work, making them eligible to receive unemployment-related benefits. unemployment. Under UC, a broader group of claimants became eligible for unemployment-related benefits than under the previous benefits regime.
7. Redundancies are made by businesses under the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (as amended on 8 October 2006), which requires them by law to notify the Department of imminent redundancies of 20 or more employees. . Companies proposing fewer than 20 redundancies are not required to notify the Department, so the figures provided are likely to underestimate the total job losses; However, it is not possible to quantify the extent of the deficit. All things being equal, we would expect more layoffs in sectors dominated by large companies, since these are the companies that meet the 20 or more collective layoff criteria.
8. To avoid possible identification of individual companies, layoff totals related to fewer than three companies are not disclosed. The Statistical Disclosure Control Policy is available here: https://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/redundancies-background-information. When the number of companies does not reach the publication threshold (as detailed in the Statistical Disclosure Control Policy), individual monthly totals are not published.
9. HMRC's Pay As You Earn (PAYE) real-time information (RTI) system is a source of administrative data. The PAYE RTI system is the system employers use to collect income tax and national insurance contributions before paying salaries to employees. This data refers only to employees paid by employers and does not include self-employment income.
10. Estimates of the number of salaried employees and employee earnings from PAYE are classified as experimental statistics as they are still in their development phase. As a result, the data is subject to revisions. Initial estimates (preliminary estimates) for October 2023 are based on around 85% of the information and will be subject to revision in next month's release, when 98% to 99% of the data are available (main estimates ). The size of top-line and preliminary estimate revisions are similar across insiders, while preliminary earnings estimate revisions are typically larger than top-line estimate revisions. HMRC PAYE covers the entire population rather than a sample of employees or businesses. The data is based on where employees live and not the location of their workplace within the UK. The data is seasonally adjusted but not adjusted for inflation.
11. The Labor Market Report will be of interest to policy makers, public bodies, the business community, banks, economic commentators, academics and the general public interested in the local economy.
12. The next Labor Market Report will be published on the NISRA website on Tuesday, December 12, 2023.
13. For media inquiries, please contact the Department of Economy Press Office at pressoffice@economy-ni.gov.uk
14. To stay up to date with the Department's news, you can follow us on the following social media channels:
15. Comments are welcome and should be addressed to: Responsible Statistician: Mark McFetridge, Economic and Labor Market Statistics (ELMS), Mark.McFetridge@nisra.gov.uk or Tel: 028 902 55172.

Share this page