Increase in local unemployment

According to the latest Labour Force Survey figures published for the month of June, the local claimant count now stands at 425 claimants, compared to 420 in May.

Wards in the Banbridge district registering the most claimants for unemployment were Edenderry with 55 claimants (no change from May); Dromore North with 35 claimants (no change); and Fort with 40 claimants (35 in May).

The Banbridge wards with the lowest claimant counts were Bannside with 10 claimants (five in May); and Ballydown and Quilly with 15 (20 and 15 in May respectively).

Across the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon council area, there were 2,260 people registering as claimants compared to 2,350 in May.

Of the registered claimants in the borough, 1,385 were male and 870 were female.

In June, the number of people on the claimant count in Northern Ireland (which includes some out-of-work claimants of Universal Credit) was was 28,600 (3.1% of the workforce).

This represents a decrease of 200 from the previous month’s revised figure.

The Labour Market Report is a monthly overview of key labour market statistics.

It includes figures from the Labour Force Survey, the claimant count (people claiming unemployment related benefits), the Quarterly Employment Survey, the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and official redundancy data.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed redundancies (2,848) in the most recent 12 months is 23% higher than in the previous 12 months.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, acting on behalf of the Department for the Economy, received confirmation that 792 redundancies took place in June 2018.

Figures for March-May 2018 estimated that 59.0% of those unemployed in NI were long-term unemployed.