Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2018

The Annual Report provides information on key labour market indicators such as employment and economic inactivity, disaggregated by council area for 2018. In addition, the report provides employment analyses in relation to industry, occupation and qualifications.

Key Points

• In 2018, there were 817,000 people of working age (16-64) in employment in Northern Ireland (NI). This accounted for 70.0% of the working age population (the employment rate).
• The highest employment rate for a council area was recorded in Antrim and Newtownabbey (77.7%) and was 16.1 percentage points above the lowest rate, which was recorded in Derry City and Strabane (61.6%).
• In 2018, there were 318,000 economically inactive people of working age in NI, equivalent to 27.2% of the working age population (the economic inactivity rate).
•  The highest inactivity rate for a council area was in Derry City and Strabane (34.1%) and was 14.2 percentage points above the lowest rate, which was in Antrim and Newtownabbey (19.9%).
• In 2018, there were 33,000 people who were unemployed. This accounted for 3.7% of the economically active 16+ population, the lowest annual unemployment rate on record.
• The average unemployment rate for urban areas (4.6%) was higher than in rural areas (2.5%).
• Read the full report here.

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