UNEMPLOYMENT:THE NUMBER of people claiming unemployment benefits climbed to 43,900 in Northern Ireland last month, latest labour market figures have shown.
A further 1,900 joined jobless benefits queues across the North in March as the downturn in the local economy claimed new casualties.
Overall, the number of people in the UK claiming jobless benefit rose by less than expected in March, although the total of unemployed surged higher.
Official data from the Office for National Statistics showed the number of claimants rose by 73,700 in March, well below forecasts for a rise of 120,000.
This brought the number of people claiming jobless benefits in the UK last month to 1.46 million and the unemployment rate for the three months to February to 6.7 per cent, its highest since early 1997, just before the Labour government took office.
Derry, Limavady and Strabane continue to top the unemployment blackspot polls in Northern Ireland.
But the highest percentage jump in jobless levels over the year to March has been in Mid-Ulster, where towns like Magherafelt have recorded a 242 per cent increase in unemployment.
The total number of people out of work in the North is estimated to be in the region 46,000.
The rapid rise in the number of redundancies and layoffs across every sector in Northern Ireland is reflected in the sharp increase in the official unemployment rate in the North.
Between December and February, the rate jumped by 1.5 percentage points to an estimated 5.7 per cent.
This was the largest increase in the North’s unemployment rate in 14 years.
Richard Ramsey, Ulster Bank’s Northern Ireland economist, said he expects unemployment numbers to climb to 60,000 by the end of this year.
“Northern Ireland continues to have the highest proportion of its working-age population classed as economically inactive.
“Increasing unemployment and rising levels of economic inactivity will see the headline Northern Ireland unemployment rate rise above 8 per cent in the latter part of this year,” Mr Ramsey predicted.
He believes the North’s rate will remain below the corresponding unemployment rates for the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
The North’s Economy Minister Arlene Foster has said the latest increase in the number of people claiming jobless benefits reflected the “continuing impact of a weak global economy”.
