NI unemployment rate hits 6.2%

The number of people unemployed in the North rose by 0.5 per cent for the three months to the end of April, new figures show today.

According to the latest data, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Northern Ireland now stands at 6.2 per cent, up from 5.7 per cent in the previous quarter and from 4 per cent for the same period a year earlier.

However, the Northern Ireland unemployment rate remained below the UK average of 7.2 per cent and of the Republic, which was at 10.6 per cent at the end of March 2009.

The more recent claimant count measure of unemployment stood at 48,000 in May 2009, with the number of claimants having increased by 1,900 over the month.

Over the year to May, the number of unemployed claimants in Northern Ireland has increased by 23,100 or 92. per cent. Just over half of the annual increase has occurred in the last 6 months.

Overall, there has been a 156 per cent increase in the number of confirmed redundancies over the last year to the end of May from 1,735 to 4,433.

Seasonal adjusted estimates from the Quarterly Employment Survey showed that there were 715,050 employee jobs filled in March 2009. This represents a net decrease of 6,220 over the quarter and a fall of 19,030 over the year.

The quarterly decline was led by falls in the service, manufacturing and construction sector jobs.