One Million Jobs: What Northern Ireland's Labour Market Forecasts Mean for Careers Practice

Northern Ireland is on track to pass one million jobs. Behind that headline sits a far more useful picture for careers practice: which sectors are forecast to grow, which qualification levels the growth actually sits at, and how much of future demand comes from replacing people leaving roles rather than from new posts being created.

This first webinar of the CDI Northern Ireland Forum brings together the people who produce and publish that intelligence with the practitioners who have to use it every day. Tracey Teague, Deputy Secretary for Skills and Education at the Department for the Economy, opens the session. Marguerite Shannon of the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre sets out the labour market outlook and what it means for the qualifications and sectors we talk to clients about. Colleagues from the Department for the Economy's Skills and Inclusion Branch walk through the Department's labour market dashboards, translate the economic terminology into plain English, and show what the wage data can and cannot tell you. Jenny Murray of the Department of Education brings the schools and careers education perspective.

Speakers are drawn from across the careers community in Northern Ireland: policy, statistics and economics, education, and frontline practice.

Speakers

Finneen Bradley, CDI Associate Northern Ireland
Finneen Bradley is the Career Development Institute's Associate for Northern Ireland. A Level 7 qualified careers professional with more than 20 years in careers education, employability and workforce development, she spent 16 years as Head of Careers in FE/HE and is Founding Director of Finnesse Careers and Empowerment and Wonderleap.

Covering: The purpose of the NI Forum, what the member survey told us members want from it, and what is coming across the rest of the year.


Tracey Teague, Deputy Secretary, Skills and Education Group, Department for the Economy
Tracey Teague is Deputy Secretary of the Skills and Education Group at the Department for the Economy, the group with policy responsibility for skills, apprenticeships, further and higher education and careers in Northern Ireland. Her group sits at the point where labour market forecasting meets skills policy, and where decisions are made about how Northern Ireland builds the workforce those forecasts describe.

Covering: Opening address. The strategic skills and education picture behind the labour market forecasts, and why careers practitioners are central to delivering against it.


Jenny Murray, Department of Education
Jenny Murray is Head of Careers at the Department of Education, the team with policy responsibility for careers education in Northern Ireland's schools. The Department works jointly with the Department for the Economy on the Careers Action Plan 2025 to 2028, the shared programme to grow and improve careers services for people of all ages. Jenny's role sits at the point where careers policy meets classroom practice.

Covering: The careers education picture in Northern Ireland schools. The Department's current priorities, how careers provision is delivered through the curriculum, and an update on the work being carried out. 

 
Marguerite Shannon, Senior Economist, Ulster University Economic Policy Centre
Marguerite Shannon is a Senior Economist in applied economic policy research at the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre, the independent centre based at Ulster University that produces Northern Ireland's economic and labour market forecasting. Her work sits behind the outlook figures that policymakers, employers and the media quote, including the projections for employment growth by sector and by qualification level.

Covering: The labour market outlook. Sectors projected to grow, what the forecasts say about qualification brackets and outcomes, and replacement demand, meaning the jobs that open up because people leave roles rather than because new posts are created.


Glenn Parker and Glenn Phair, Skills and Inclusion Branch, Department for the Economy
Glenn Parker and Glenn Phair work in the Department for the Economy’s Skills and Inclusion Branch, where they have developed labour market information and dashboards that provide insights into key skills and employment trends across Northern Ireland. They work with the data that careers practitioners across Northern Ireland rely on, making this session a valuable opportunity to hear directly from those who analyse and interpret it.

Covering: A guided tour of key labour market dashboards, exploring their content, how to use them, and why they matter for careers practice. This will include a practical guide to the economic concepts and language used in labour market intelligence, including an introduction to employer and employee wage data and what it tells us about the labour market.

David Morgan – Chief Executive CDI 
David is Chief Executive of the Career Development Institute, the UK-wide professional body for the career development profession. He joined the CDI in April 2021 after a decade in education, including roles at City and Guilds and AQA spanning both vocational and academic qualifications. He leads on strategy and policy, stakeholder relationships and media engagement, and is the CDI's public voice on career development. He is also Chair of Trustees at Climate Ed and a trustee of The Rainforest Foundation.

This session supports the following CPD competencies:

•     Career-Related Policy and Practice
•     Networking and Partnerships