NI's job market weakens as number of workers on payrolls dip

There were signs of weakening in Northern Ireland's job market as the number of workers on company payrolls dipped last month.

According to official figures there were 810,200 workers on payrolls in April, that's a decrease of 0.1% over the month but up 1.1% on the same time the previous year.

The typical monthly pay packet continued to grow to £2,427 in April, which is an increase of £238 or 10.9% on the previous year.

The fact that wages at growing faster than the rate at which prices are rising, known as inflation, should mean workers are actually feeling better off.

However, Northern Ireland wages continue to lag behind the UK where typical monthly pay was £2,521 in April.

Unemployment hit another record low of 1.6% from January-March, well below the UK rate of 4.5%, however this measure alone does not tell the full story.

The proportion of people in work or the employment rate also fell to 71.6%, which is well below the UK rate of 75%.

The reason for that gap and the biggest problem facing Northern Ireland's labour market is the number of people who aren't in work nor looking for a job.

It is known as the rate of economic inactivity and includes groups like students, carers, long term sick, disabled.

Economic inactivity rose over the year to 27.2%, well above the UK rate of 21.4%.

The most common reason for being economically inactive was long term sick.

There were 121,000 long-term sick, accounting for 37.9% of the total economically inactive in April.

This was an increase of 9,000 people from the same period last year.