The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Northern Ireland has fallen to its lowest level since November 1979, the British government announced yesterday.
The unemployment rate now stands at 7.2 per cent, considerably lower than other UK unemployment black spots such as the north-east of England (10.1 per cent), Merseyside (9.6 per cent), Scotland (7.4 per cent) or even London (7.5 per cent). It is also well below the EU average of 9.6 per cent.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in the North is 53,000, a drop of 0.1 per cent from last year, while 681,000 are working, a rise of 0.9 per cent.
Welcoming the figures, the North's Economy Minister, Mr Adam Ingram, said he was also pleased that the index of manufacturing output showed an increase of 3.8 per cent, compared to a drop of 1.2 per cent for the United Kingdom as a whole.