NISRA figures show lower employment rates for women over past 10 years

By Q Radio News

Latest Northern Ireland Labour Force Survey figures show the employment rate for women has been consistently lower than that of men for the past ten years.

The data, released by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA), suggests the difference is driven by lower self-employment rates for women compared to men.

The number of self-employed males in 2021 was more than two and a half times the number of self-employed females.

Latest Northern Ireland Labour Force Survey figures show the employment rate for women has been consistently lower than that of men for the past ten years.https://t.co/alu1OMIFK4

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The statistics also show women were less likely to work full-time than males - with 60% of employed women with dependent children having worked full-time in 2021, compared to 94% of employed males with dependent children.

It also shows the gap in female and male earnings has decreased over the past 20 years - with just 5.7% of women earning less than men in 2021.

The largest gender pay gap across all age groups occurred in the 50 to 59 age group, where men earned almost £2.50 more per hour than women (£15.33 compared to £12.87).

A lower proportion of women also received earnings above the Real Living Wage (by 5%), and women also reported lower levels of opportunities for career progression (by 9%).

The female economic inactivity rate is also shown as consistently higher than that of males over last decade - with just under a third working age women (30.7%) being economically inactive in 2021, compared to just under a quarter of men (23.6%).

The most common reason for inactivity among women (29%) and men (36%) in 2021 was long term sickness. 

The proportion of women looking after family and the home was similar at 28%, which was the least common reason (6%) amongst men.