The unemployment rate for February to April was 2.2%, that’s down 0.1% over the year and the lowest of the UK regions, according to official figures.

The latest figures from HMRC show the proportion of people in work was 71.3% which is the highest rate since the pandemic, but still much lower than the UK rate of 74.3%.

The number of people not in work nor looking for a job (for example students, carers, sick), known as the rate of economic inactivity, was 27%.

That’s down 0.1% over the year.

However the rate in Northern Ireland continues to be significantly higher than the UK average (22.3%).

The most common reason for economic inactivity was “long-term sick” with 126,000 “long-term sick” making up 39.7% of the total economically inactive.

The number of people in NI on company payrolls last month was unchanged from April.

In May there were 801,800 employees on company payrolls – that’s 1.6% higher than the same time last year and the biggest increase of any UK region.

NISRA says 180 redundancies occurred in May.

Paypackets in Northern Ireland continued to grow last month but are still the lowest UK region.

Typical monthly pay in Northern Ireland was £2,217 in May – that’s an increase of £141 or 6.8% in 12 months.

However, it is still lower than the UK rate of typical monthly pay which was £2,379 in May.

Northern Ireland remains the lowest earning of the 12 UK regions, but has also reported the biggest increase over the last 12 months.