Women in Northern Ireland 2018

The Women in Northern Ireland 2018 publication considers the different labour market experiences of women and men in Northern Ireland. A consistent feature of the labour market is higher unemployment and employment rates for males and higher inactivity rates for females. Using the Labour Force Survey quarterly and household datasets, these features are explored.

Key Points:

• The employment rate for males in NI has been consistently higher than for females over the past ten years. Although the number of employees in NI is evenly split between males and females, the number of self-employed males is more than double the number of self-employed females.
• The unemployment rate for males in NI has been consistently higher than for females over the past ten years. At July-September 2018, two-thirds of the unemployed were male and one-third were female.
• Over the past 10 years there has consistently been more economically inactive women than men. At July-September 2018 a third of working age women were economically inactive, compared to 23% of men.
•  The most common reason for inactivity among women was family and home commitments, while the most common reason for men was sick or disabled. (LFS July-September 2018)
• Economic activity rates were lowest for women with a youngest dependent child of pre-school age.
• Labour Force Survey Women in Northern Ireland 2018

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