North's jobless figures rose 62% last year

NORTHERN IRELAND’S slide into recession over the last 12 months resulted in the fastest yearly increase in unemployment in the North since 1971, latest Government figures show.

The number of people out of work and claiming jobless benefits rose in the North last month by 2,200 to 38,400.

The official unemployment rate in Northern Ireland has also risen to 5.1 per cent for the period October to December 2008.

Latest Government labour market figures show that in the 12 months to January 2009 a total of 14,700 people signed on to receive unemployment-related benefits.

This represents an increase of 62 per cent, the largest annual percentage increase in 38 years, which is higher than the UK as a whole, which recorded an increase of 55.1 per cent.

Unemployment in Britain rose by 146,000 to 1.971 million in the three months to December, the highest level since 1997, but short of analyst forecasts that it would breach the two-million figure.

The rate of unemployment was 6.3 per cent, the highest since 1998 according to official figures released yesterday. Experts said the outlook for the job market remained bleak at a time when Britain was in deep recession.

“The two-million mark is coming up and realistically going into 2010 it will probably be the three-million mark that becomes more relevant,” said Mark Miller, an economist at HBOS.

The number of people claiming jobless benefits in Britain rose by less than expected in January.

The Office for National Statistics said the claimant count rose by 73,800 to 1.233 million in January, the highest level since July 1999.

That rate hit 3.8 per cent. Analysts had forecast a rise of 90,000 on the month.

The statistics reveal that nearly 35 per cent of people claiming unemployment benefits in the North last month were younger than 25.

The total number of unemployed people in Northern Ireland according to the Department of Enterprise is estimated to be 42,000 – an increase of 8,000 over both the latest quarter and the year.

Richard Ramsey, Northern Ireland economist with Ulster Bank believes the worst is yet to come on the unemployment front in the North.

“We expect the number of individuals claiming unemployment benefit to rise to 55,000 later in 2009 – a figure last seen in 1999.” – (Additional reporting: Reuters)