The number of Catholics in work has increased at a rate five times higher than that of Protestants over the last decade, a report by the Fair Employment Commission (FEC), published in Belfast yesterday, has revealed.
A comparison of the figures for 1990 with those for 1998 shows that the number of Protestants employed in the monitored workforce in Northern Ireland during that period increased by 5,031, while the same figure for Catholics rose by 25,698.
This means that the percentage of Catholics in the workforce has increased from 34.9 per cent in 1990 to 39.1 per cent today, a development which the FEC's chairman, Sir Robert Cooper, described as "significant and heartening".
Speaking at the launch of the FEC's ninth monitoring report, he said: "During a decade in which participation of both Protestants and Roman Catholics in the Northern Ireland workforce increased in real terms, it is gratifying to be able to record that the proportion of Catholics has grown by 4.2 per cent, bringing that community's share significantly closer to a figure which would reflect their numbers in the economically active population."
According to the report, the percentage of Catholics available for work is 42 per cent. "This represents a significant advance and the trend has been, and continues to be, one of steady improvement. It is bringing us closer towards the goal of fair levels of participation for both Catholics and Protestants within the Northern Ireland workforce," Sir Robert commented.
But the report shows there is still a low representation of Catholics in security-related jobs - the increase being only 1 per cent to 8.4 per cent - a situation Sir Robert described as "inadequate".
Among Catholics, more women are in employment than men, although there has been an increase both in the male and in the female workforce.
The percentage of Catholic women in work now stands at 42.1 per cent (from 38.5 per cent in 1990). For men, it is 36.4 per cent (from 32 per cent).
The FEC monitors employment trends in public and private sectors from all firms employing more than 25 people. The current report is the Commission's last, as its work will shortly be taken over by the new Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, set up a result of the Belfast Agreement.
The report states that further progress towards equality would be influenced heavily by the degree of growth in the North's economy.
"If progress is to be maintained across the board, the importance of an expanding economy and the development of significant job opportunities in Northern Ireland cannot be overestimated," Sir Robert said.
He denied that the increase of Catholics in employment had been at the expense of Protestants. "Both communities have benefited from the improved economic situation, albeit Catholics to a larger extent. But let's not forget that the proportion of Catholics who are unemployed is still disproportionately large." Sir Robert stressed that this "ongoing discrepancy" in the representation of Catholics among the unemployed needed to be "urgently addressed" by the British government.
According to Sir Robert, one of the biggest problems in securing equal employment for Catholics is "cronyism" and "word-of-mouth" propaganda. Many companies would not publicly advertise job vacancies but rather employ people that had heard of the vacancies from friends and relatives who were already employed by the firms, he concluded.
Meanwhile, the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland published a report yesterday stating that 17 per cent of female employees compared to 3 per cent of male employees in the North do not pay national insurance contributions because they earn less than the weekly lower earnings limit. As a result, the women's entitlement to a range of benefits such as maternity, pensions and job-seekers' allowance is severely restricted.