The number of people claiming jobless benefit rose by 400 last month to hit a high of 62,900 in Northern Ireland. Official figures show the total number of people out of work between March and May was estimated at 59,000, an increase of 1,000 over the quarter.

In contrast the jobless total in the UK as a whole fell by 65,000 to 2.58 million people in the three months to May. The UK’s unemployment rate fell to 8.1 per cent from March to May while Northern Ireland’s rate in the same period rose to 6.9 per cent.

The number of people claiming unemployment benefits across Britain each month increased by 6,100 to 1.6 million in June.

The North’s Enterprise Minister says the unemployment rate there compares “favourably” to equivalent rates in the UK and also remained below the average European Union rate of 10.3 per cent. But Sinn Féin Foyle MLA Maeve McLaughlin said the fact that 2,308 people recently applied for 14 jobs at a new DFS furniture store in Derry shows that the main item on most people’s agenda is the lack of jobs. “We need to see a refocusing of efforts on job creation to include not only foreign direct investment but also on helping small and medium-sized indigenous businesses to develop in terms of export and innovation.”

New economic figures also show that output fell by 1.6 per cent in real terms over the quarter, compared with an increase of 0.1 per cent in the UK as a whole.

The Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Arlene Foster, said that over the quarter, provisional results from the Index of Services reported a fall of 1.6 per cent in real terms in output for Northern Ireland. “This has mainly been driven by falls in the business services and finance sector whereas other sectors in the index all reported a quarterly increase in output.”

Provisional results from the Index of Production have also reported an increase, with a rise of 0.9 per cent over the quarter and a yearly increase of 2.2 per cent.