Labour Market Report April 2023

Date published: 18 April 2023

The latest labour market statistics were published today (18th April 2023) by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

Payrolled employees and monthly earnings recorded an increase over the month

• The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in March 2023 was 790,600, a 0.5% increase over the month and a 2.3% increase over the year.
• HMRC PAYE data indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of £2,110 in March 2023, an increase of £56 (2.7%) over the month and an increase of £177 (9.2%) over the year.

Claimant Count Rate remains relatively stable over the previous twelve months

• In March 2023, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 36,200 (3.7% of the workforce), an increase of 2.3% from the previous month’s revised figure.  The March claimant count remains higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020 by 21.2%.

Number of confirmed redundancies remains below historic trend

• NISRA, acting on behalf of the Department for the Economy, received confirmation that 150 redundancies occurred in March 2023, taking the annual total to 1,070, 42.2% less than in the previous 12 months.
• 100 redundancies were proposed in March 2023.  Over the year April 2022 to March 2023, 2,190 redundancies were proposed.

Statistically significant annual changes in Labour Force Survey (LFS) employment and economic inactivity rates

• 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 2023 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 2.4%.  This was a decrease of 0.3 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and a decrease of 0.6pps over the year.
• The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate)
• increased by 0.6pps over the quarter and increased by 2.6pps over the year to 71.9%.  The annual change was statistically significant. 
• The total number of weekly hours worked in NI (27.8 million) decreased by 2.6% over the quarter and increased by 5.6% over the 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 0.4pps over the quarter and by 2.2pps over the year to 26.2%.  The annual change was statistically significant.

The statistical bulletin and associated tables are available on the Labour Market Report - April 2023 page.