North west still lagging on jobs front, figures show

THE north west of the province is continuing to lag behind the east for jobs, with employment rates around 20% below the best-performing regions, according to new data.

The Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2017 revealed a disparity between the number of people aged 16-64 in work between the north west and north coast and councils along the eastern shore.

The combined employment rate for Derry City and Strabane and Causeway Coast and Glens was 58.7%, a full 17.3 percentage points behind the combined rate of 76% for Antrim and Newtownabbey and the Ards and North Down council areas.

Northern Ireland’s unemployment rate was 4.4% over the year, with the economic inactivity rate at 27.7%. Nearly one-third (32.3%) of those aged 16-64 years were qualified to degree level or above, while one in six had no qualifications. However, in Derry City and Strabane, 27.3% had no qualifications.

Derry City and Strabane and Causeway Coast and Glens also had the lowest proportion of the working age population educated to degree level or above.

Economist Andrew Webb said the figures showed that arguments of underinvestment in the north west were true. “What we see is a legacy of significant underinvestment by successive Governments, which make the region harder to access, less resilient to economic shocks and less attractive to inward investment.”

However, Londonderry has been boosted by three significant announcements in the past three months, which will bring hundreds new jobs to the city. FinTru, Alchemy Technology Services and Danske Bank have committed to creating 628 jobs in the next few years.

Brian McGrath, the vice-chairman of Derry Chamber, said that as well as an historical legacy of underinvestment in infrastructure, skills also remained a major factor.

“There have been some really fantastic successes and recent announcements of job creation, but there are deficits around education and skills that need to be addressed.

“The chamber have been very vocal in supporting initiatives seeking to redress that. All of that will play into the development of a City Deal, which will be innovation-led.

“We have such capacity to grow because we are at such a poor starting point in much of this. We have cause for optimism, but we need investment.”

Yesterday’s data from NISRA showed that in 2017 three-quarters (74.6%) of the population aged over 16 in employment were working full-time, the equivalent of 620,000 people.