Report says growth of North's economy is slowing down

THE North's economy is still massively dependent on a subsidy of around £4 billion each year from Britain, and, despite increases in manufacturing output, growth has spiralled slowly downwards to just 2 per cent, an economic review to be published today will show.

The Coopers & Lybrand report, Northern Ireland Economic Review and Prospects, points to the North's elephantine public sector, which, excluding the British army and its Royal Irish Regiment, employs more than one third of the workforce.

Excluding the army, the British government spends £8.6 billion each year in the North, more than 62 per cent of GDP. This compares with a figure of just 32 per cent in the Republic.

The annual non military subsidy from Westminster has risen to over £3.2 billion, the report says. Assuming that a portion of Britain's central defence and security budget spent in Northern Ireland comes to at least £800 million, this means an average annual subvention per household of around £10,000.

Despite this subsidy, the North's rate of growth, which stood at 4 per cent in 1994, is grinding ever slower. In 1995, GDP for Northern Ireland was estimated at 3 per cent, last year it was 2 per cent. In comparison, the Republic has on average recorded GDP growth of over six per cent for the past three years.

The report also contains surprise employment statistics there are now more women at work than men in Northern Ireland. According to a table in the report, female employment overtook male employment in 1995, with 287,670 women at work against 285,320 men.

The trend of rising female employment and falling male employment continued last year, where 288,160 women were at work compared with 284,930 men, the report said. Analysts yesterday pointed to the much higher level of part time female employment as part of the explanation for the shift.

The town bay town survey of unemployment showed that residents of predominantly Catholic towns were still more likely to be jobless. Strabane, Newry, Derry, Cookstown and Dungannon all registered rates of 13 per cent or more. Belfast and Craigavon had rates of around 9 per cent.

There was good news in the survey from the manufacturing sector, which Coopers & Lybrand says has grown seven times faster than the UK average since 1990. Manufacturing wages remain on average 20 per cent lower in the North than in Britain, and this has helped boost productivity in the sector, the report says.