UK & World
Labour Market Statistics
The labour market statistics were published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.
Payrolled employees and monthly earnings increased over the month
- The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in July 2023 was 793,000, a 0.4% increase over the month and a 1.9% increase over the year.
- Earnings data from the HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of Pound 2,103 in July 2023, unchanged over the month and an increase of Pound 147 (7.5%) over the year.
- When considering the annual change in employees by industry to July 2023, increases were recorded within the services (2.2%), manufacturing (1.3%) and other industries (1.3%) sectors. However, the count of employee jobs in the construction sector remained unchanged.
Claimant Count Rate remains relatively constant over previous year
- In July 2023, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 37,000 (3.8% of the workforce), an increase of 1.7% from the previous month’s revised figure. The July 2023 claimant count remains 23.8% higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020.
Proposed redundancies almost three and a half times the total for previous year
Labour Force Survey employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity rates remain relatively steady
- The latest NI seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (the proportion of economically active people age 16 and over who were unemployed) for the period April-June 2023 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 2.7%. This was an increase of 0.2 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and was unchanged from the same period last year.
- The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) decreased by 0.6pps over the quarter and increased by 1.7pps over the year to 71.4%.
- The total number of weekly hours worked in NI (28.7 million) decreased by 0.8% over the quarter and increased by 2.9% 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) increased by 0.4pps over the quarter and decreased by 1.8pps over the year to 26.6%.
Commentary
- The latest labour market release shows that over the year both payrolled employee numbers and earnings have increased with Labour Force Survey employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity rates remaining relatively steady.
- The latest HMRC payroll data shows that payrolled employee numbers increased by 0.4% over the month and increased by 1.9% over the year. Payrolled earnings were unchanged over the month and were 7.5% higher than July 2022.
- Households reported, via the Labour Force Survey (LFS), a 1.7pps increase in the employment rate over the year to April-June 2023, to 71.4%, while there was a 1.8pps decrease in the economic inactivity rate over the year to April-June 2023, to 26.6%. The unemployment rate was unchanged from the position one year ago, at 2.7%. Caution is advised when interpreting these results, as none of the annual changes were statistically significant. At April-June 2023, the economic inactivity rate was 0.7pps above the pre-pandemic position recorded in October-December 2019, while the unemployment rate for April-June 2023 was 0.3pps above the pre-pandemic rate. The employment rate for April-June 2023 sat 0.9pps below the pre-pandemic position recorded in October-December 2019.
- The total number of hours worked in April-June 2023 increased by 2.9% over the year, to 28.7 million hours per week. This is 1.7% below the pre-pandemic position recorded in October-December 2019.
- The Department was notified of 250 proposed redundancies in July 2023, which is almost double the monthly average recorded during 2022 of 130. This month’s proposed redundancies take the latest rolling twelve-month total to 4,370, which is the highest rolling twelve-month total since August 2021 and is almost three and a half times the figure for the previous year (1,260).
- The Department was also notified that 40 redundancies had taken place in July 2023. This brought the rolling twelve-month total of confirmed redundancies to 1,340, the fifth consecutive month that the total has been over 1,000, although this figure is still well below the long term trend.
- Lastly, the claimant count estimate increased, by 1.7%, over the month to July 2023 from the revised figure for June 2023. The claimant count rate also increased, to 3.8%, however this is the sixteenth consecutive month that the claimant count rate has been within the range 3.6% to 3.8%.
http://www.unitedkingdomnews.net/news/273932154/labour-market-statistics Labour Market Statistics