NI unemployment rate steady at 2.4% but up 0.7pps year-on-year
Date published:
The latest labour market statistics were published today (11th November 2025) 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 October 2025 was 815,000, an increase of 0.1% over the month and an increase 1.0% over the year.
Earnings data from HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £2,411 in October 2025, unchanged over the month and an increase of £130 (5.7%) 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 July-September 2025 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 2.4%. This was unchanged over the quarter and an increase of 0.7 percentage points (pps) over the year.
The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) decreased by 0.2pps over the quarter and decreased by 0.7pps over the year to 71.4%.
The total number of weekly hours worked in NI was estimated at 28.6 million hours, a decrease of 4.0% on the previous quarter and unchanged from 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 0.2pps over the quarter and increased by 0.1pps over the year to 26.8%.
Seasonally adjusted claimant count rate remains relatively stable over the month
In October 2025, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 37,700 (3.8% of the workforce), an increase of 4.5% from the previous month’s revised figure. The October 2025 claimant count remains 26.3% 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 130 redundancies occurred in October 2025, taking the annual total to 2,310, which was fifteen percent higher than the figure for the previous year (2,010).
There were 2,760 redundancies proposed in the twelve months to October 2025, which was ten percent less than the previous year (3,070).
The statistical bulletin and associated tables are available on the Labour Market Report - November 2025 page.