Bombardier Aerospace has told its Northern Ireland workforce that it is likely to increase the number of people it intends to make redundant this year.
Two months ago the Canadian group announced “global downsizing” plans which will result in 7,000 job cuts world wide.
At the time Bombardier said this would directly lead to 580 job losses in Northern Ireland this year and a further 500 next year – equivalent to nearly 20 per cent of its local workforce.
But Bombardier has since confirmed that it is likely to “pull forward” some of the redundancies in the North and that it expects more people to leave the company this year – potentially up to 630 – with the remainder leaving in 2017.
The company said today: “We appreciate that this is a very difficult time for our workforce and their families, and we are doing all we can to mitigate the numbers of compulsory redundancies.
“However, it is crucial that we continue to evaluate all opportunities to significantly reduce our costs and improve our competitiveness, in order to help secure our long-term future.”
The prospect of additional job losses in 2016 comes as latest official government statistics show there has been a significant jump in the number of people out of work in the North.
The latest Northern Ireland Labour Marker report shows that the local unemployment total increased by 4,000 people between December 2015 and February 2016 to 56,000.
Although the total number of people out of work across the UK also rose in the same period to 1.7 million the local unemployment rate at 6.3 per cent was higher than the overall UK average rate of 5.1 per cent.
Northern Ireland currently has one of the highest jobless rates across the UK but when it comes to long term unemployment rate it is way out in front of any other region.
The North’s rate of 47.8 per cent is much higher than the UK average of 27.9 per cent.
The April Labour Market Report also shows that the number of people claiming jobless related benefits rose in Northern Ireland last month by 200 to 38,600.
