Businesses report job growth over the quarter and year

Date published: 18 June 2026

The latest labour market statistics were published today (18th June 2026) by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

Payrolled employees and median earnings increased over the year 

• The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in May 2026 was 820,100, which was unchanged over the month and an increase of 1.3% over the year.
• Earnings data from HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £2,462 in May 2026, which was unchanged over the month and an increase of £94 (4.0%) over the year. 
• The estimates from HMRC PAYE for the latest period are based on early data and, therefore, are more likely to be subject to larger revisions.

Labour Force Survey headline measures

• 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 2026 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 1.7%. This represents a decrease of 0.4 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and a decrease of 0.1pps over the year.
• The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) increased by 0.3pps over the quarter and increased by 0.2pps over the year to 71.9%. The number of employed people (age 16 and over) in NI was estimated at 896,000, an increase of 2,000 from the last quarter and a decrease of 2,000 from the same period last year.
• The total number of weekly hours worked in NI was estimated at 29.5 million hours, an increase of 1.9% on the previous quarter and a decrease of 3.0% 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) increased by 0.1pps over the quarter and decreased by 0.1pps over the year to 26.8%.

Seasonally adjusted claimant count rate remains relatively stable over the month

• In May 2026, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 35,100 (3.5% of the workforce), an increase of 0.2% from the previous month’s revised figure. The May 2026 claimant count remains 17.6% higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020.

Latest annual total of confirmed redundancies lower than previous year

• NISRA, acting on behalf of the Department for the Economy, received confirmation that 90 redundancies occurred in May 2026, taking the annual total to 1,910, which was over twelve percent lower than the figure for the previous year (2,180). 
• There were 2,600 redundancies proposed in the twelve months to May 2026, which was nearly nineteen percent less than the previous year (3,200).

Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) headline measures

• Businesses reported that employee jobs increased over the quarter (1.0%) and increased over the year (1.9%) to 853,970 jobs in March 2026.
   

The statistical bulletin and associated tables are available on the Labour Market Report - June 2026 page.