The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Northern Ireland has risen by more than 75 per cent in the last year.
Official figures released today showed the claimant count rising faster than the rest of the UK - an extra 18,100 (75.7 per cent) in the past 12 months.
Almost 80 per cnet of the rise was recorded in the last six months as the economic decline gathered pace. There are now 42,000 claimants of unemployment benefits in the North,
The number recorded as unemployed jumped 10,000 to 46,000 for the three months to the end of January.
The unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent was up a full 1.3 per cent over the previous quarter. The figures from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment showed 32.7 per cent of those unemployed had been out of work for more than a year.
The number of people in employment was estimated at 765,000 - 23,000 down over the quarter and 18,000 down on a year ago.
The number of people facing redundancy continues to increase. DETI said it was notified of 893 proposed redundancies in the month to mid-March, compared with the 715 proposed in the previous month.