Northern Ireland
Young adult unemployment
Key points
- Around one in ten 'economically active' 16- to 24-year-olds in Northern Ireland is unemployed. This is around 15,000 people.
- This unemployment rate is lower than in any of the regions of Great Britain.
- While the rate of unemployment for those aged 25 to retirement has come down sharply over the last decade, from 8% to 3%, the rate among 16- to 24-year-olds has declined much less, from around 12% to around 10%.
- As a result of this, the difference in the rate of unemployment between the under and over 25s has grown over the last decade and the rate for 16- to 24-year-olds is now three times the rate for older workers.
Graph 1: Over time
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Graph 2: Compared to GB
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Definitions and data sources
This indicator looks at unemployment with focus on the 16- to 24-year-old group, not only because unemployment has been higher for this group than for older workers but also because unemployment at this age can make it harder for someone to complete the transition from childhood to adulthood.
The first graph shows the unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24, compared with those aged 25 and over (up to retirement).
The second graph shows, for the latest year, how unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds in Northern Ireland compares with the regions of Great Britain. To improve its statistical reliability, the data is the average for the latest three years.
'Unemployment' is the ILO definition, which is used for the official government unemployment numbers. It comprises all those with no paid work in the survey week who were available to start work in the next fortnight and who either looked for work in the last month or were waiting to start a job already obtained.
The unemployment rate is the percentage of the economically active population who are unemployed (i.e. the number who are unemployed divided by the number who are either in paid work or unemployed).
The data source for all the graphs is the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The figures for each year are the average for the four quarters of the relevant year.
Overall adequacy of the indicator: medium. The LFS is a large, well-established, quarterly government survey designed to be representative of the population as a whole but the use of a particular age group means that the sample sizes are relatively small.