Weekly hours worked decreases by 1.3% over the year
Date published:
The latest labour market statistics were published today (20th January 2026) by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.
Weekly hours worked decreases by 1.3% over the year
The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in March 2026 was 819,800, which was unchanged over the month and an increase of 1.1% over the year.
Earnings data from HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £2,434 in March 2026, a decrease of £60 (2.4%) over the month and an increase of £25 (1.0%) 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 December-February 2026 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 2.2%. This represents an increase of 0.1 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and an increase of 0.7pps over the year.
The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) decreased by 0.8pps over the quarter and decreased by 0.1pps over the year to 71.2%. The number of employed people (age 16 and over) in NI was estimated at 889,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the last quarter and a decrease of 1,000 from the same period last year.
The total number of weekly hours worked in NI was estimated at 28.6 million hours, a decrease of 5.2% on the previous quarter and a decrease of 1.3% 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 0.8pps over the quarter and decreased by 0.4pps over the year to 27.2%.
Seasonally adjusted claimant count rate remains stable over the month
In March 2026, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 35,400 (3.5% of the workforce), an increase of 1.5% from the previous month’s revised figure. The March 2026 claimant count remains 18.7% 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 160 redundancies occurred in March 2026, taking the annual total to 2,370, which was around one third higher than the figure for the previous year (1,780).
There were 2,910 proposed redundancies in the twelve months to March 2026, which was five percent less than the previous year (3,060).
The statistical bulletin and associated tables are available on the Labour Market Report - April 2026 page.