Statistics for Northern Ireland were published by NISRA on Monday morning, confirming that the total number of employee jobs reached 827,815 in September 2024. This figure represents an increase of 11,253 positions compared to the same month last year.
The overall growth rate stood at 1.4%, a rise driven primarily by expansion within the Services sector which added 9,525 roles. Manufacturing also contributed to the upward trend with 932 new jobs recorded over the twelve-month period.
Conversely, employment in other sectors including Agriculture declined by 1,245 posts, or 4.9%, offsetting some of the gains made elsewhere. The Construction industry saw a net gain of 2,040 jobs (5.5%) following a contraction of nearly 1,000 positions in the preceding year.
Belfast accounted for the majority of this expansion with an absolute increase of 3,116 jobs, which constituted just under 30% of the total growth across the region.
When broken down by local government district, employment rose in ten out of eleven areas. Antrim & Newtownabbey was the only exception, recording a reduction of 891 jobs or 1.5% over the year to September 2024.
It is important to note that these figures reflect the number of employee jobs rather than individual workers. Consequently, individuals holding multiple roles are counted more than once in the official data.
Matthew Williams from the Economic & Labour Market Statistics Branch at NISRA stated that feedback on the methodology and results remains open for submission.