Northern Ireland
Wanting paid work
Key points
- 'Unemployment' is only part of the overall picture of people who lack, but want, paid work: more than half of all those who lack, but want, paid work are considered to be 'economically inactive', either because they are able to started work immediately or because they are not actively seeking work. Lone parents and those who are sick or disabled usually count as 'economically inactive' rather than 'unemployed'.
- There are 80,000 working-age people who want to be in paid work but are not. This compares to a figure of 120,000 a decade ago, a fall of around a third. It represents 7% of the working-age population.
- Northern Ireland has a lower proportion of its working-age population lacking but wanting paid work than any of the regions in Great Britain, just over half the rate in both London and the North East of England (12%) and 1 percentage point lower than the rate in the lowest region of Great Britain, namely the South West of England.
- One reason for Northern Ireland's low 'want work' rate is the very low number of people who are economically inactive but want paid work, just 4%: lower than any of the regions of Great Britain and substantially below the Great Britain average of 5½%.
- However, Northern Ireland also has more of its working-age population not in paid work (30%) than any region in Great Britain apart from London.
- The Great Britain average is 25%. This 5 percentage point difference between Northern Ireland and the Great Britain average is entirely accounted for by two groups. First, Northern Ireland has more students who are not in paid work than Great Britain: 8% of all working-age adults compared with 5%. Second, Northern Ireland has more sick and disabled people who are not in paid work than GB: 9% of all working-age adults compared with 6%.
Graph 1: Lacking but wanting work - over time
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Graph 2: Lacking but wanting work - compared to GB
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Graph 3: Lacking work - over time
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Graph 4: Lacking work - compared to GB
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Definitions and data sources
The first two graphs concern individuals who lack, but want, paid work.
The first graph shows how the number of people aged 16 to retirement who lack, but want, paid work has changed over time. It is divided between the long-term unemployed, the short-term unemployed and those counted as 'economically inactive' who nevertheless want paid work.
'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 economically inactive who want paid work includes people not available to start work for some time and those not actively seeking work. The data is based on a question asking the economically inactive whether they would like paid work or not.
The second graph shows how the proportion of people aged 16 to retirement in Northern Ireland who lack, but want, paid work compares to the regions of Great Britain, with the proportions who are unemployed and economically inactive but wanting paid work shown separately.
The third and fourth graphs concern individuals who lack paid work, whether or not they want paid work.
The third graph shows how the proportion of people aged 16 to retirement in Northern Ireland who are not working compares to the regions of Great Britain, with the data shown for both the latest year and for a decade ago.
The fourth graph breaks down, for the latest year, the workless population by type of person – student, people with disabilities, single adults, couples with children and couples without children. For comparison purposes, the equivalent data for Great Britain is also shown.
The data source for all the graphs is the Labour Force Survey (LFS). In all bar the fourth graph, the figures for each year are the average for the four quarters of the relevant year. In the fourth graph, the data is the average for the second and fourth quarters as family type is not recorded in the first and third quarters.
Overall adequacy of the indicator: high. The LFS is large, a well-established, quarterly government survey designed to be representative of the population as a whole.