Job losses in Northern Ireland hit 20 year high
Northern Ireland has recorded its highest number of annual confirmed redundancies since 2001.
10,650 collective redundancies were proposed in the twelve months to the end of February, more than double the number recorded in the previous twelve months.
During February, 420 redundancies were confirmed, taking the annual total to 5,770, the highest in 20 years.
However, the labour market statistics, which were published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency, show payrolled employees increased.
The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in January 2021 was 744,300, an increase of 0.2% over the month and a decrease of 0.9% over the year. The flash estimate for Febuary 2021 shows an increase of 0.2% on January’s figure to 746,100.
The HMRC payroll data is the most timely and best single, overall indicator of the labour market.
The latest data shows that the number of paid employees has increased in the most recent three months after remaining relatively constant between April and November.
That follows other small increases in January and December.
Currently, nearly 100,000 people are still on furlough as lockdown continues and many fear it is masking the true impact the pandemic has had on the jobs market.