Unemployment in Northern Ireland has broken through the symbolic 50,000 mark after a rise of 1,500 in the claimant count, according to government figures released today.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits stood at 51,000 in July, up 23,900 (88.2 per cent) on the year.
The rise was the equal smallest in the last 11 months. However, a recent run of planned redundancy announcements by companies will ensure more people join the dole queues in the weeks ahead.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate measured by the Labour Force Survey was 6.7 per cent for the period April to June - up from the 6.1 per cent in the previous quarter and well ahead of the 4.2 per cent recorded a year ago.
However, Northern Ireland's unemployment rate remains well below the UK average - 7.8 per cent - and was also lower than the European Union level of 8.9 per cent.
The estimated number of people in employment was 744,000 a fall of 1.6 per cent over the last quarter and 5.6 per cent over the year.