Unemployment more than doubles in Northern Ireland during lockdown

By Q Radio News

Official figures released today show that unemployment in Northern Ireland more than doubled over the last two months.

It has also soared to its highest rate since February 2013 since lockdown measures were introduced to prevent the spread of coronavirus. 

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) data shows that that claimant count increased from 29,700 in March to to 65,200 in May.

The number includes those who are claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and those people on Universal Credit who were claiming as a result of unemployment. 

Nisra estimates that the claimant count unemployment rate is now 7%.

Across the UK as a whole the number of workers on payroll dived by over 600,000 in the same period.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the number of job vacancies in May had also fallen to a record low.

Around nine million workers have been furloughed during the pandemic.  

Economists say the full impact of the health crisis won't be felt until wage support schemes end in October with further redundancies expected.