The number of people unemployed in the North fell by 7,000 to 43,000 last year, according to figures released yesterday by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.
Northern Ireland had a lower unemployment rate than Scotland, Wales, and London, from September to November 2000. The rate of 5.8 per cent was also 2.4 percentage points lower than the EU average.
There was, however, a rise of 300 in people claiming jobseekers' allowance between November and December after adjustments were made to take account of seasonal differences.
Sir Reg Empey, Minister of Enterprise, gave the figures a cautious welcome.
"While the continuing downward trend in the figures is encouraging, it is disappointing that the seasonally adjusted estimate of the numbers claiming jobseekers' allowance has again increased," he said.
He blamed a contraction in traditional industries for job losses and warned that further redundancies could be expected. The shipbuilding, textile and clothing sectors all experienced job cuts last year.
Mr Empey drew attention to manufacturing output figures, also released yesterday, which showed an increase of 7.3 per cent for the third quarter of 2000 over the same period the previous year.
"This performance outpaces the figures for the UK as a whole, where manufacturing output rose by 0.9 per cent over the year," he said.
Mr Nigel Dodds of the DUP warned against complacency over the figures.
"There is a lot more work to be done in terms of putting Northern Ireland on a sound economic footing," he said.