NI only UK region to see growth in payrolled employee numbers over the year
Date published:
The latest labour market statistics were published today (19th May 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 818,100, which was a decrease of 0.1% over the month and an increase of 1.0% over the year.
Earnings data from HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £2,467 in April 2026, an increase of £10 (0.4%) over the month and an increase of £76 (3.2%) 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 January-March 2026 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 2.1%. This represents a decrease of 0.1 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and an increase of 0.5pps 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 0.6pps over the year to 72.1%. The number of employed people (age 16 and over) in NI was estimated at 895,000, unchanged 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 29.4 million hours, a decrease of 0.8% on the previous quarter and a decrease of 1.8% 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 0.2pps over the quarter and decreased by 1.0pps over the year to 26.3%.
Seasonally adjusted claimant count rate remains stable over the month
In April 2026, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 35,600 (3.5% of the workforce), an increase of 1.7% from the previous month’s revised figure. The April 2026 claimant count remains 19.3% higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020.
Latest annual total of confirmed redundancies higher than previous year
NISRA, acting on behalf of the Department for the Economy, received confirmation that 70 redundancies occurred in April 2026, taking the annual total to 2,350, which was around one third higher than the figure for the previous year (1,790).
There were 550 proposed redundancies in April 2026, taking the annual total to 3,310, which was nearly eight percent more than the previous year (3,070).
The statistical bulletin and associated tables are available on the Labour Market Report - May 2026 page.