Unemployment falls in Lisburn

Statistics released by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency in their January Labour Market Report, show that the Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council area had the lowest number of people claiming unemployment benefits.

There are currently 1,782 people claiming unemployment benefit in Lisburn, which equates to 2% of the city’s working age population.

The figures show that unemployment in Lisburn has fallen by almost 17% over the last year. Unemployment levels have fallen in Northern Ireland as a whole, with a total of 38,246 claiming benefits, a fall of 22% since last January.

Lagan Valley MLA Paul Givan welcomed the reduction in unemployment in the Lisburn area. “Lisburn has the lowest number of claimants of any council area and had a reduction of almost 17% in 2015 compared to the previous year,” he said.

“This is welcome progress with new jobs being created within the local economy but there are still people that want to work that we need to help create the opportunities for employment.

“The work of the local Council and InvestNI has supported businesses to expand and a key priority for the next Assembly term must be to continue driving the economy forward by supporting local business through a reduction in red tape and helping control costs including rates and energy bills.

“With the exception of London, Northern Ireland has been the most successful region of the United Kingdom for attracting foreign direct investment over the past number of years and I firmly believe the reduction in corporation tax will be of great benefit to our local businesses and for attracting new investment that will create more jobs.

“Global economic events can have an impact on our local economy but it is vital that what influence our council and Assembly have to help businesses is used effectively and the unemployment levels could fall further.”