Ulster Unionist spokesperson on the economy Steve Aiken MLA has welcomed a reduction in Northern Ireland’s unemployment rate, but has warned the Executive against complacency in light of other less favourable economic indicators.
Steve Aiken said:
“The Ulster Unionist Party welcomes the latest labour market figures which show another slight reduction in the Northern Ireland unemployment rate to 5.5%. However, some caution should be shown and the Executive and the Economy Minister should try to avoid cherry picking the data.
“Some context needs to be applied. In the spring of 2007 when the Stormont Executive was re-established the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Northern Ireland was 3.7%. That was lower than the UK average of 5.4% and the lowest of all the UK regions.
“With Northern Ireland having, proportionately, the largest public sector in the UK, we should have suffered less during the recession that occurred after 2007. That did not happen, and according to the NI Economic Reform Group we suffered the largest percentage loss of jobs of any region during the last recession. Our recovery lags behind the rest of the United Kingdom.
“Therefore, I would advise the Executive against complacency. Our youth unemployment and economic inactivity rates are still well above the UK average. There are big economic challenges which must be faced: low productivity, low regional gross domestic product, loss of manufacturing jobs, high energy costs and the uncertainty over looming Brexit.”