1 Key points

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The total number of employee jobs in Northern Ireland in September 2018 was 771,379, an increase of 15,014 jobs (2.0%) since September 2017.

The increase in employee jobs was driven mainly by growth in the service industry (10,405 jobs) which was responsible for 69% of the total increase.

The manufacturing sector increased by 3,146 jobs or 3.8% over the year to September 2018. The equivalent growth for the previous year was 3.6%.

Construction jobs continued to grow with an increase of 2.6% (891 jobs) over the year to September 2018. However, growth has reduced from the previous year which was 4.7%.

All District Council areas in Northern Ireland saw an increase in employee jobs except for Antrim & Newtownabbey, where a small decrease (1.0%) was observed over the year to September 2018. It should be noted that a proportion of the District Council area changes in employee jobs over the year can be attributed to the relocation of jobs within Northern Ireland.

2 Summary Infographic

3 Gender and Working Pattern

Key findings

  • The number of employee jobs in Northern Ireland has grown steadily since 2012, following a period of decline from 2007.

  • The number of employee jobs in Northern Ireland was 771,379, as at September 2018. This is an increase of 2.0% on the 2017 figure.

  • In 2018, just over half of all employee jobs in Northern Ireland were occupied by females (51%). The gender profile of employee jobs in Northern Ireland remained unchanged since 2017.

Figure 1: Percentage Change in Employee Jobs, Sept 2017 to Sept 2018



Figure 1 shows:

  • The number of female full-time jobs has increased over the year, to September 2018, by 10,140 or 5.2%. This accounted for the majority (68%) of the overall growth in jobs.

  • The number of female part-time jobs has decreased slightly over the same period (1,077 or 0.6%).

4 Industry (Headline Level)

Key findings

  • The BRES 2018 results have shown that the industry profile of jobs in Northern Ireland remained unchanged from 2017 and was dominated by the services sector.

  • Employee jobs increased in all four headline industries over the year to September 2018. All the changes exceeded the variability expected from a sample survey of this size and are likely to reflect real change.

Figure 2: Change in Employee Jobs by Headline Industry, 2017 to 2018



Figure 2 shows:

  • The growth in employee jobs was driven by an increase of 10,405 jobs in the services industry which accounted for 69% of the overall increase.

  • The manufacturing industry saw an increase of 3,146 (3.8%) jobs over the year to September 2018. This is slightly higher than the growth observed the previous year which was 3.6%.

  • The number of jobs in the construction sector increased by 2.6% over the year to September 2018. This is lower than the growth observed the previous year which was 4.7%.

5 District Council Area

Key findings

  • The proportion of employee jobs by District Council area has remained relatively unchanged since 2017.

  • Ten of the eleven District Council areas saw an increase in the number of employee jobs over the year to September 2018. Antrim and Newtownabbey saw a decrease of 602 jobs (1.0%) over the period.

Figure 3: Percentage Change in Employee Jobs by District Council Area, 2016 to 2017 and 2017 to 2018



Figure 3 shows:

  • The largest increase in employee jobs was in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon where an additional 2,814 jobs or 3.7% growth was observed over the year to September 2018.

  • Mid Ulster experienced the greatest percentage growth, with 4.8% more employee jobs since September 2017.

6 Public/Private Sector

Key findings

  • The public/private sector jobs profile in Northern Ireland remains unchanged from 2017 with just over a quarter (27%) of jobs in the public sector.

  • The public sector saw an increase of 4,234 jobs or 2.1% over the year to September 2018. The growth in the public sector was driven by an increase of 3,448 (81%) female full-time jobs.

  • The private sector grew by 1.9% over the year to September 2018. The equivalent growth in 2017 was 2.6%.

Figure 4: Change in Employee Jobs by Public/Private sector, 2017 to 2018



Figure 4 shows:

  • The growth in the private sector was driven by an increase in female full-time jobs (62%) and male full-time jobs (31%).

  • The majority (72%) of the growth in employee jobs over the year to September 2018 was as a results of an increase of 10,780 private sector jobs.

7 Further Information

National Statistics Status

National Statistics status means that our statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value, and it is our responsibility to maintain compliance with these standards. These statistics were designated as National Statistics in August 2010 following a full assessment against the Code of Practice.

Since the assessment by the UK Statistics Authority, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and have made the following improvements:

  • Reduced the burden on those providing their information, and on those collecting, recording and supplying data by reducing the sample size in alternate years and sharing data wherever feasible.

  • Enhanced quality by improving timeliness of the release and providing information to users on quality assurance and methodology.

  • Redesigned the Business Register and Employment Survey report, improving explanatory material including charts, maps and data visualisations.

Background Notes

This bulletin summarises findings from the Northern Ireland Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) 2018. A set of associated tables have been provided and are available here.

Note that the data and analysis presented in this report include agriculture employee job figures taken from the Agriculture Census in Northern Ireland 2018, published by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The agriculture job counts included in this report are Farm Labour: Other Workers. These data are included in industry Section A: Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing.
The data presented in the accompanying tables exclude agriculture figures.

The BRES report includes the agriculture employee job counts in line with the NI Quarterly Employment Survey output. However, the agriculture data is not available to all geographical and industry levels to which BRES data can be disaggregated, when the sample is sufficiently large. Therefore, for consistency, BRES tables have historically excluded the agriculture counts.

The Northern Ireland BRES sample for 2018 was sufficiently large to provide disaggregation of employee job figures by Headline Industry and to District Council area level.
The effective response rate for BRES 2018 was 79%. Further details on the quality and methodology of the Northern Ireland BRES can be found in the BRES QMI report.

Contact Information

If you require further information about the figures contained in this publication or the accompanying tables, please contact the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) Section using the details below:

Telephone: 028 90 529437

Email: BRES@finance-ni.gov.uk

Web: Business Register and Employment Survey

Twitter: ‘@ELMSNISRA’