Majority of local authorities record job increases

Published in September, The Northern Ireland Business Register and Employment Survey provides figures of performance from broad industries and local authorities. 

Eight out of the 11 local authorities in Northern Ireland recorded increased numbers of employee jobs according to the latest Business Register and Employment Survey. Belfast represented the largest jobs increase of 2.5 per cent. Fermanagh and Omagh (1 per cent), Lisburn and Castlereagh (0.5 per cent) and Mid and East Antrim (0.2 per cent) were the local authorities which recorded a decrease in employee jobs. 

The total number of employee jobs across Northern Ireland rose by 1.1 per cent to 728,932 in 2015 up 7,749 since the previous year.

The increase was driven by improvements in the services (3,830), manufacturing (3,162) and construction sector (1,425) but the figure somewhat mask a significant decrease of 668 employee jobs in ‘other’ industry, 658 of which were farm workers.

Both male and female jobs increased by 1.8 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively, as did the number of full time employees (3.4 per cent). However, the number of part time employees decreased by 3 per cent.

Over the year to September 2015, public sector jobs decreased by 2.6 per cent and private sector jobs increased by 2.6 per cent.