BELFAST BRIEFING:NEW SCIENTIFIC research which suggests that the decline of the worker bee could have major economic repercussions down the line is a theory that Northern Ireland should stop to think about.

British scientists believe if bees and their fellow winged pollinating friends were to disappear, it could cost the UK economy £440 million (€539 million) a year.

A new £10 million scheme has just been launched to try to get to the bottom of why worker bees are in decline.

It might seem not a particularly pressing concern given the mountain of problems the North’s Executive is facing these days.

But perhaps it might be a useful exercise for political leaders to stop and consider why the region has its own particular problems when it comes to cultivating worker bees.

There is, according to latest government statistics, something in the region of 558,000 people in the North who are not in employment or looking for a job.

These people are not technically unemployed – they are instead classified as “economically inactive”.

They are not to be confused with the people who have genuinely lost their job because of the economic downturn and are actively looking for work.

This is an entirely separate group of people from the 58,000 currently registered as unemployed in the three months to April of this year. Instead these are people without a job, who have not actively looked for a job in the last four weeks and are not able to start work in the next two weeks.

In Northern Ireland there are a greater number of people who are classed as economically inactive compared to anywhere else in the UK.

The working-age economic inactivity rate in the North currently stands at 26.7 per cent. This is significantly higher than the UK average rate of 21.5 per cent.

In Northern Ireland’s defence, 32.3 per cent of the economically inactive are registered students, which in itself may help the North grow the knowledge-based economy it aspires to.

But the fundamental issue behind the statistics is why there are so many people in Northern Ireland who do not want a job and who are unwilling to work at this moment.

It is not because the North does not have a strong work ethic – research proves the contrary.

According to labour market data, in the three months to March, the average actual weekly hours worked in Northern Ireland was 33.1 hours, which was higher than the UK average of 31.5 hours.

The British work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith feels the reason behind Northern Ireland’s economically inactive problem has more to do with what people are getting than what they could be earning. In short, Smith believes the problem is rooted in the UK’s current benefits system.

He says it may be “disincentivising” people from going out to find work. Smith believes “that for too many people, work simply does not pay”.

He says that if someone on benefits is offered a relatively low-paid job, the current system means that once they start work and their benefits are withdrawn they are left with little more income than what they would have received on the dole.

Duncan Smith believes the current welfare regime in the UK is trapping people into a “deeply unfair benefits system”.

As last week’s emergency budget outlined, it is a situation that is not going to continue for much longer.

The UK’s welfare system is set for a major shake-up but that in turn might simply create yet more problems for the local economy.

There are fewer jobs in Northern Ireland today than there were a year ago. Over the 12 months to March, the North lost 13,260 employee jobs, bringing the number of these jobs to a level of 700,210. That is significantly below what it was two years ago.

It is no secret that Northern Ireland needs to get more people into the workplace to break its dependency on the public sector.

But how can it do this if opportunities are diminishing?

Put simply, where is the nectar going to come from that will help grow a new generation of worker bees?

Will it be the United States? The Northern Ireland enterprise minister, Arlene Foster, who is just back from her latest trade mission to America, must certainly hope so. But regardless of the source, the issue of inspiring new worker bees is one the executive cannot afford to ignore, particularly in light of the 17,000 young people currently claiming unemployment benefits each month.

If it cannot find an answer to solve Northern Ireland’s work-shy conundrum and inspire new colonies of workers then it is not just the economy that is going to get stung in the long run.