The labour market statistics were published today 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 November 2022 was 783,500, a 0.3% increase over the month and a 2.4% increase over the year.
• Earnings from the HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of Pound 1,999 in November 2022, an increase of Pound 23 (1.2%) over the month and an increase of Pound 140 (7.5%) over the year.

Third consecutive monthly increase in the claimant count

• In November 2022, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 36,200 (3.8% of the workforce), which was an increase of 1.2% from the previous month's revised figure.  The November claimant count remains higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020 by 21.4%.

Lowest twelve-month total of confirmed redundancies in time series

• NISRA, acting on behalf of the Department for the Economy, received confirmation that 50 redundancies occurred in November 2022, taking the annual total to 850.
• 200 redundancies were proposed in November 2022, following low or no redundancies in October.  Over the year December 2021 to November 2022, 1,490 redundancies were proposed.

Statistically significant changes in all three Labour Force Survey (LFS) 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 August-October 2022 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 2.7%.  This was a decrease of 0.2 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and a decrease of 1.2pps over the year.  The annual change was statistically significant.
• The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) increased by 1.7pps over the quarter and increased by 2.9pps over the year to 71.3%.  Both the quarterly and annual changes were statistically significant.  The total number of weekly hours worked in NI (27.7 million) increased by 1.3% over the quarter and increased by 2.7% 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 1.6pps over the quarter and by 2.0pps over the year to 26.7%.  The quarterly change was statistically significant.

Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) headline measures

• Businesses reported that employee jobs in NI increased over both the quarter (0.5%) and the year (3.1%) to 802,960 jobs in September 2022 to reach a series high.  The annual change was statistically significant.

Commentary

• The latest labour market release shows that payroll employee numbers and earnings have both increased over the year.  Measures of total employment (e.g. employment rate and hours worked), unemployment and economic inactivity continue to show improvement over the year but have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic position.
• The latest HMRC payroll data showed that payrolled employee numbers increased by 0.3% over the month and are 2.4% above the figure recorded in November 2021.  Payrolled earnings also increased over the month, by 1.2% and are 7.5% above the figure recorded in November 2021.
• Employee jobs in NI increased over both the quarter and the year to 802,960 jobs in September 2022, to reach a new series high.  The quarterly and annual increases in employee jobs in September 2022 were largely driven by the services industry sector.  The construction, manufacturing, and other industries sectors also reported an increase over the year.
• There were 50 redundancies confirmed to the Department in November 2022.  Over the most recent twelve-month period, 1,490 redundancies were proposed and 850 were confirmed.  The rolling twelve-month total of confirmed redundancies is the lowest total in the time series and is the second consecutive total under 1,000.
• The claimant count estimate increased over the month to November 2022 from the revised estimate for October 2022.  This is the third consecutive monthly increase following a trend of decreases between March 2021 and August 2022.  The claimant count rate however has remained at 3.8% for the seventh consecutive month.
• Results from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) show a statistically significant increase in the employment rate over both the quarter and the year to August-October 2022 to 71.3%.  In addition, there were statistically significant decreases in the unemployment rate over the year to 2.7% and economic inactivity rate over the quarter to 26.7%.  Despite these changes, the employment rate remains 1.0pps below the pre-pandemic level recorded in November-January 2020, whilst the unemployment rate remains 0.3pps above the pre-pandemic position and the economic inactivity rate 0.8pps above the pre-pandemic rate.  The total number of hours worked in August-October 2022 was 3.9% below the pre-pandemic position recorded in November-January 2020.