Ikea shows North open for business

The arrival of the Swedish retail giant earlier this month shows that the peace dividend has well and truly emerged, writes Ciara O'Brien

The arrival of Swedish retail giant Ikea is perhaps the most pointed commentary on the fact that Northern Ireland's economy is booming.

The fanfare surrounding the opening of the first such store in Ireland sent out the message that the North is open for business. The peace dividend has well and truly emerged.

A recent study found that businesses were reporting better than expected growth, while the private sector is continuing to contribute strongly to the labour market.

According to the latest seasonally adjusted figures from the quarterly employment survey, unemployment in Northern Ireland stands at 4 per cent - below the UK average of 5.3 per cent and the EU27 average of 7 per cent.

The survey covers the period between August and October 2007. Although the number of people claiming unemployment benefit rose by 100 during September 2007, it has fallen by 3,900 over the year, to a total of 23,300.

Federation of Small Businesses spokesman Glyn Roberts described the North's unemployment figures as "good", but said there had to be a focus on those who were not in the labour market. "We have a large number of people who are economically inactive," said Mr Roberts, who says that this needs to be addressed.

However, it seems that there has never been a better time to look for a job in Northern Ireland - in some sectors at least.

The employment survey revealed that not only was there an increase in the number of jobs filled during the period, but the figure also hit a record high for the number of jobs on record.

There were 720,210 employee jobs filled in September 2007, an increase of 1,450 over the quarter and yearly growth of 12,010. This was driven primarily by the services sector, which added 1,170 jobs, and construction, which grew by 640 during the month.

The private services sector saw some particularly significant growth, increasing employment by 12,830 during the past year, while the services sector was particularly active and added close to 10,000 jobs.

According to figures from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, last year the strongest sector for employment was the construction industry, with the number of jobs growing 10.2 per cent between September 2005 and the same month in 2006. This translates into an extra 3,900 jobs in the sector. In contrast, the entire labour market in Northern Ireland grew by 9,800 jobs, or 1.4 per cent, over the same period.

Also on the list of the top five industries for job growth was health and social work, which saw an additional 2,530 jobs added last year, an extra 2.3 per cent on 2005 figures. The retail trade added 1,670 new jobs in the North in 2006, a 2.1 per cent change year on year. However, this is not all good news.

"In one sense, we have seen growth in the retail sector, among Tesco, Sainsbury and the like, but what we have to remember is that these are essentially displaced jobs from the independent retailers," said Roberts.

The business community recently went into battle over lowering corporate tax rates in a bid to remain competitive when seeking foreign direct investment.

However, Roberts says, it is a fight that they fear they have lost and, as a result, the companies need to look elsewhere to find a selling point for the region.

One area that the Northern Ireland should be concentrating on, he says, is skills and training, particularly for the high-tech sector. Although the North has made some progress in this sector, Robertson says there is more that could be done.

Appropriate skills and training are "absolutely essential to building business", he says, especially given the competitive nature of the market.

With the Assembly now back in operation, however, Roberts says there may be a greater policy front on business as a whole, and the focus on the local labour market may gain some new perspective.

"There will be big challenges in 2008," says Roberts. "They can be better addressed now we have our own local ministers."