Labour Market Report February 2023

The latest labour market statistics were published today (14th February 2023) by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

Payrolled employees and monthly earnings recorded an increase over the month

• The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in January 2023 was 785,400, a 0.1% increase over the month and a 2.0% increase over the year.
• Earnings from the HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £2,012 in January 2023, an increase of £4 (0.2%) over the month and an increase of £76 (3.9%) over the year.

Claimant Count Rate remains constant for ninth consecutive month

• In January 2023, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 35,900 (3.8% of the workforce), a decrease of 1.0% from the previous month’s revised figure.  The January 2023 claimant count remains 20.5% higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020.

Increases in both confirmed and proposed redundancies over the month

• NISRA, acting on behalf of the Department for the Economy, received confirmation that 260 redundancies occurred in January 2023, taking the annual total to 970, 60.5% less than in the previous 12 months.
• 440 redundancies were proposed in January 2023.  Over the year February 2022 to January 2023, 1,960 redundancies were proposed.

Statistically significant changes in Labour Force Survey (LFS) employment and economic inactivity rates

• The latest NI seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (the proportion of economically active people aged 16 and over who were unemployed) for the period October-December 2022 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 2.5%.  This was a decrease of 0.5 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and of 0.7pps over the year.  Neither the quarterly nor annual changes were statistically significant.
• The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) increased by 1.8pps over the quarter and by 3.1pps over the year to 71.9%.  Both the quarterly and annual changes were statistically significant. 
• The total number of weekly hours worked in NI (27.9 million) increased by 5.0% over the quarter and by 5.8% over the year.
• The economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 who were not working and not seeking or available to work) decreased by 1.5pps over the quarter and by 2.6pps over the year to 26.3%.  Both the quarterly and annual changes were statistically significant.

The statistical bulletin and associated tables are available on the Labour Market Report - February 2023 page.

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