Labour Market Report June 2023

The latest labour market statistics were published today (13th June 2023) by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

Payrolled employees is unchanged and monthly earnings decreased over the month

• The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in May 2023 was 788,400, unchanged over the month and a 1.7% increase over the year.
• Earnings data from HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £2,054 in May 2023, a decrease of £4 (0.2%) over the month and an increase of £108 (5.5%) over the year.

Claimant Count Rate remains relatively constant over previous year

• In May 2023, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 36,200 (3.7% of the workforce), a decrease of 1.4% from the previous month’s revised figure. The May 2023 claimant count remains 21.1% higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020.

Number of confirmed redundancies remains below historic trend

• NISRA, acting on behalf of the Department for the Economy, received confirmation that 140 redundancies occurred in May 2023.  Over the year June 2022 to May 2023, 1,200 redundancies were confirmed, 25.7% less than in the previous 12 months. 
• There were 610 proposed redundancies in May 2023, taking the annual total to 2,650 (26.0% more than in the previous 12 months).

Labour Force Survey employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity rates remain relatively steady

• 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 2023 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 2.4%.  This was unchanged over the quarter and a decrease of 0.2pps over the year.
• The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) increased by 0.5pps over the quarter and increased by 2.1pps over the year to 72.4%.
• The total number of weekly hours worked in NI was estimated at 29.0 million hours, an increase of 4.5% on the previous quarter, and an increase of 3.8% on the equivalent period last 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 0.6pps over the quarter and decreased by 2.0pps over the year to 25.8%.

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

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