Labour Market Statistics June 2025

Date published: 10 June 2025

Payrolled employees and median earnings decreased over the month

• The number of employees receiving pay through HMRC PAYE in NI in May 2025 was 809,700, a decrease of 0.1% over the month and an increase 0.8% over the year.
• Earnings data from HMRC PAYE indicated that NI employees had a median monthly pay of Pound 2,385 in May 2025, a decrease of Pound 21 (0.9%) over the month and an increase of Pound 152 (6.8%) over the year. Median earnings in the latest three months may have been affected by local pay awards.
• The estimates from HMRC PAYE for the latest period are based on early data and, therefore, are more likely to be subject to larger revisions.

Labour Force Survey headline measures

• The latest NI seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (the proportion of economically active people aged 16 and over who were unemployed) for the period February-April 2025 was estimated from the Labour Force Survey at 1.8%. This represents an increase of 0.2 percentage points (pps) over the quarter and a decrease of 0.3pps over the year.
• The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) decreased by 0.5pps over the quarter and decreased by 1.0pps over the year to 71.7%.
• The total number of weekly hours worked in NI was estimated at 30.4 million hours, an increase of 4.1% on the previous quarter and an increase of 4.3% on the equivalent period last year.
• The economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 who were not working and not seeking or available to work) increased by 0.3pps over the quarter and increased by 1.2pps over the year to 26.9%.

Seasonally adjusted claimant count rate remains stable over the month

• In May 2025, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 38,200 (3.9% of the workforce), a decrease of 1.5% from the previous month's revised figure. The May 2025 claimant count remains 28% higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020.

Latest annual total of proposed and confirmed redundancies lower than previous year

• NISRA, acting on behalf of the Department for the Economy, received confirmation that 560 redundancies occurred in May 2025. Over the year June 2024 to May 2025, 2,170 redundancies were confirmed, which was approximately ninety percent of the figure for the previous year (2,470).
• There were 780 proposed redundancies in May 2025, taking the annual total to 3,200, which was around eighty percent of the figure for the previous year (4,040).

Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) headline measures

• Businesses reported that employee jobs increased over the quarter (1.0%) and increased over the year (2.1%) to 840,750 jobs in March 2025.

Commentary

• The latest Labour Market release shows that over the year both payrolled employee numbers and earnings have increased. From the Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate decreased over the year. However, the employment rate has also decreased, and the economic inactivity rate has increased.
• The latest HMRC payroll data shows that payrolled employees decreased by 0.1% over the month and increased by 0.8% over the year. Payrolled earnings decreased by 0.9% over the month and were 6.8% higher than May 2024.
• Households reported, via the Labour Force Survey (LFS), over the year to February-April 2025, decreases in both the unemployment rate (by 0.3pps to 1.8%) and the employment rate (by 1.0pps to 71.7%), while the economic inactivity rate increased by 1.2pps to 26.9%. None of these annual changes, however, were statistically significant.
• The total number of hours worked in February-April 2025 increased by 4.3% over the year, to 30.4 million hours per week, which represented a statistically significant annual change. This figure is 1.2% above the pre-pandemic position recorded in November-January 2020 and was the highest level recorded in the time series.
• Businesses reported, via the Quarterly Employment Survey, that employee jobs in NI increased over the quarter and the year to reach a new series high, 840,750 jobs, in March 2025. Quarterly increases in employee jobs were seen within the manufacturing, construction and services sectors while there was a quarterly decrease in the other industry sector. The manufacturing and services sectors reached a new series high in March 2025. There were increases in employee jobs over the year within the manufacturing, construction and services sectors with an annual decrease in the other industries sector.
• In May 2025, the Department was notified of 560 confirmed redundancies, bringing the rolling twelve-month total of confirmed redundancies to 2,170, approximately ninety percent of the figure for the previous year (2,470). In addition, 780 proposed redundancies were notified to the Department in May 2025. The annual total of proposed redundancies was 3,200, around eighty percent of the figure for the previous year (4,040). Both the twelve-month totals of proposed and confirmed redundancies are similar to the levels seen in the decade preceding the pandemic.
• Finally, there was a decrease of 1.5% in the claimant count estimate over the month to May 2025 from the revised figure for April 2025. The claimant count rate for May 2025 decreased to 3.9% from the revised rate for April 2025 of 4.0%. This was the first time since June 2024 that the claimant count rate has been below 4.0%.