Unemployment levels still rising in NI

Published Wednesday, 20 June 2012
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The number of people out of work in Northern Ireland is continuing to rise, as the unemployment benefit claimant rate remains the second highest of the 12 UK regions.

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According to the latest government figures, the unemployment rate is now estimated at 7.1% - up from 6.5% in the last quarter.

While the rate has risen, it does remain below the averages for the UK (8.2%), the Republic of Ireland (10.2%) and the European Union (14.5%).

Just over 45% of those unemployed in Northern Ireland have been out of work for at least one year.

The unemployment rate for young adults aged 18-24 has risen by 4.6 percentage points in the last year to 21%.

Three hundred more people joined the dole queues in May, taking the total number of people on unemployment benefits to 62,600.

The number of jobs available in the public sector has decreased by 4,380 in the last year, and there was a decrease of 3,200 jobs in the private sector.

In May, 194 people were affected by confirmed redundancies.

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said it was apparent that "wider economic issues" were continuing to put pressure on the labour market in Northern Ireland.

"My Department, working through Invest Northern Ireland, is committed to helping businesses to identify how they can better cope with current economic difficulties," she said.

"In addition, the Invest NI Jobs Fund is supporting business owners to create new, sustainable jobs that will tackle our current levels of unemployment.

"In its first year of operation, the scheme exceeded its Year One target by promoting 2,390 jobs against a target of 2,250 and by actually creating 1,021 jobs against a target of 1,015."

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3 Comments
sean in use wrote (340 days ago):
@norman in bangor Amen Brother it seems we are the butt of the joke. i wonder would many english tax payers really be happy with the news that they are paying for a free gardan party which induviduals are profiting from plus Marty might actually meet the queen \o/
norman.d in bangor wrote (340 days ago):
this is the worst recession since the war and people are celebrating at the garden party at stormont to the queen who has reigned over this depression i dont see anything to celebrate with things getting worse the priorities in this country are all wrong people should look to GOD for help
Kieran Murphy in Dungiven wrote (340 days ago):
It will soon be true that in the UK there will be more people claiming benefits like JSA, ESA, DLA, or part time work that full time Employment . The number of people in full time Employment is 21 million 8 million in part time Almost 3 million on JSA 2.5 million on ESA 3 million on DLA total is 16 million 40% the population between 18 and 65 on Part time work or claiming Benefits should be the Headline News
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