Labour Market Report June 2022

The latest labour market statistics were published today (14th June 2022) by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

Payrolled employees now higher than pre-COVID for the twelfth consecutive month

The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in May 2022 was 779,100, an increase of 0.4% over the month and 4.2% over the year. This is the highest on record and the twelfth consecutive month that employee numbers have been above pre-COVID levels.
Earnings from the HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £1,925 in May 2022, a decrease of £15 (0.8%) over the month and an increase of £120 (6.6%) over the year.

In May 2022, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 36,300 (3.8% of the workforce), which is a decrease of 300 (0.9%) from the previous month’s revised figure. The May claimant count remains higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020 (by 22%).

NISRA, acting on behalf of the Department for the Economy, received confirmation that 90 redundancies occurred in May 2022. At 1,620, the annual total was 73% less than in the previous year. Over the year June 2021 to May 2022, 2,110 redundancies were proposed, 77% less than in the previous 12 months.

The latest NI seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (the proportion of economically active people aged 16 and over who were unemployed) for the period February-April 2022 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 2.6%. This was a decrease of 0.6 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and of 1.0pps 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 1.5pps over the quarter and by 1.8pps over the year to 70.2%. The quarterly change was statistically significant. The total number of weekly hours worked in NI (27.9 million) increased by 6.6% over the quarter and by 9.7% 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 1.1pps over the quarter and by 1.2pps over the year to 27.8%. Neither the quarterly nor annual changes were statistically significant.

Businesses reported that employee jobs in NI increased over both the quarter (1.5% or 11,470 jobs) and the year (3.3% or 25,700 jobs) to 794,880 jobs in March 2022 to reach a series high.
Private sector jobs reached a series high in March 2022. Private sector jobs increased over both the quarter (1.7% or 9,540 jobs) and the year (3.5% or 19,540 jobs). Public sector jobs also increased over the quarter (0.8% or 1,770 jobs) and the year (2.8% or 6,090 jobs).

The statistical bulletin and associated tables are available on the Labour Market Report - June 2022 page.

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