Labour Market and Social Welfare

Results of surveys and censuses conducted regarding the Northern Ireland labour market and social welfare.

Related statistics

Labour Market Overview

The Monthly Labour Market Report contains the most up to date labour market statistics from a range of household and business surveys, and administrative sources.

Labour Force Survey

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a quarterly sample survey carried out by interviewing people about their personal circumstances and work.

The Transformation of Labour Market Statistics in Northern Ireland

NISRA is currently in the process of transforming the LFS and associated labour market statistics for NI. This work is being advanced alongside work by the ONS to transform the LFS in GB.

Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings

The ASHE is a UK wide survey that provides data on hourly, weekly and annual earnings by gender, work patterns, industry and occupation, including public versus private sector pay comparisons.

The QES provides short-term employee jobs estimates for NI, which are then used by the ONS to feed into the calculation of the quarterly workforce jobs estimates for the UK as a whole.

Under the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (Amended 8 October 2006) you are required by law to notify the Department of a proposal to make redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment.

Claimant Count

The new experimental Claimant Count includes Jobseeker’s Allowance Claimants and those Universal Credit claimants who were claiming principally for the reason of being unemployed.

Annual Employee Jobs Surveys

Historically, there have been two annual employee jobs surveys; the Census of Employment (CoE) and the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES), with each being run on alternate years.

ASHE Pensions Results

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is a UK wide survey that provides a wide range of information on earnings, including workplace pension type by gender, age, and sector.

Work quality

Work quality statistics released to date contain a number of indicators primarily sourced from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), alongside an earnings indicator sourced from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE).

COVID-19 related analysis

This page provides links to analysis relating to the impacts of COVID-19 on the NI labour market published in response to user requests or as part of a wider ONS or HMRC publication.

User requested data

Labour market statistics are published regularly throughout the year. We also produce bespoke tables if users request data that are not already available.