NI Claimant Count Decreases For Fourth Consecutive Month

The Labour Market Report was published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency and highlights:



The Labour Force Survey (LFS) measure of unemployment in Northern Ireland (NI) decreased marginally over the quarter to April - June 2016. The number of people claiming unemployment related benefits in NI decreased in July 2016.



The LFS indicated that the NI unemployment rate (16+) decreased by 0.1 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and by 0.5 pps over the year, to 6.0%. The UK unemployment rate (4.9%) also fell over the quarter and the year to April - June 2016.



The number of people claiming unemployment related benefits (from NI Jobs and Benefits Offices) decreased by 600 over the month, to 36,100 in July 2016. This is the fourth consecutive decrease after two consecutive months where the claimant count had increased.



The number of people claiming unemployment related benefits has fallen by 28,600 since the most recent peak in February 2013. The number of people leaving the register in the last 12 month period has slowed, from 9,900 to July 2015 to 6,900 in the recent year to July 2016.



The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) unchanged over the quarter and increased over the year to 69.0% which remained lower than the UK employment rate (74.5%).



The NI economic inactivity rate (26.4%) was 0.2 pps higher than in the previous quarter and 1.1 pps lower than in the previous year. The NI economic inactivity rate remained noticeably higher than in the UK (21.6%).



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