23 September 2026
Inactivity falls as Northern Ireland unemployment edges up
The September labour market report for Northern Ireland was published on 15 September. Labour Force Survey estimates for May to July 2026 put the unemployment rate at 2.4%, a rise of 0.6 percentage points on the previous quarter that the statisticians record as significant, and 0.1 percentage points up on the year. The employment rate for those aged 16 to 64 stood at 72.2%, up 0.2 percentage points on the quarter. Economic inactivity among the same age group fell to 26.0%, down 0.6 percentage points on the quarter and 0.5 points on the year.
The direction of those two figures together is the interesting part. Inactivity falling and unemployment rising by a similar margin in the same quarter generally means people moving from outside the labour market into active job search, rather than a loss of jobs. Employment rose at the same time, with 900,000 people in work, an increase of 3,000 on the quarter and 4,000 on the year.
The administrative measures were steadier. There were 819,200 payrolled employees in August, down 0.1% on the month but up 0.8% over the year, with median monthly pay of £2,509, some 5.6% higher than a year earlier. The claimant count stood at 33,400, or 3.3% of the workforce, which remains 11.8% above its March 2020 level. Confirmed redundancies over the year to August totalled 1,360, down 44.3% on the 2,430 recorded the previous year.
For practitioners the inactivity figure is the one to follow. At 26.0% it remains the defining feature of the labour market here, and a quarterly fall of 0.6 percentage points represents a meaningful number of people testing the water again. They arrive in guidance with long gaps, dated qualifications and caring or health related constraints, and they need something other than a vacancy list. The next labour market report is due on 20 October, a week after the NI Forum webinar on labour market intelligence.
Read more about the latest labour market statistics for Northern Ireland.
The direction of those two figures together is the interesting part. Inactivity falling and unemployment rising by a similar margin in the same quarter generally means people moving from outside the labour market into active job search, rather than a loss of jobs. Employment rose at the same time, with 900,000 people in work, an increase of 3,000 on the quarter and 4,000 on the year.
The administrative measures were steadier. There were 819,200 payrolled employees in August, down 0.1% on the month but up 0.8% over the year, with median monthly pay of £2,509, some 5.6% higher than a year earlier. The claimant count stood at 33,400, or 3.3% of the workforce, which remains 11.8% above its March 2020 level. Confirmed redundancies over the year to August totalled 1,360, down 44.3% on the 2,430 recorded the previous year.
For practitioners the inactivity figure is the one to follow. At 26.0% it remains the defining feature of the labour market here, and a quarterly fall of 0.6 percentage points represents a meaningful number of people testing the water again. They arrive in guidance with long gaps, dated qualifications and caring or health related constraints, and they need something other than a vacancy list. The next labour market report is due on 20 October, a week after the NI Forum webinar on labour market intelligence.
Read more about the latest labour market statistics for Northern Ireland.
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