Business Register and Employment Survey 2017 published today.

Employee job figures derived from the 2017 Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) were released today.

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Corresponding figures for the whole of the UK were simultaneously released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). 

The report is available on the ONS website.

BRES is an annual survey of businesses requesting information on the number of employee jobs and business activity. In 2017, approximately 30,000 businesses (40% of all VAT and/or PAYE registered businesses in Northern Ireland) were surveyed and an effective response rate of 82% was achieved.  The large sample size allows employee jobs to be disaggregated by geography and industry to relatively small levels. 

BRES counts the number of jobs rather than the number of persons with a job. As a result, a person holding both a full-time job and a part-time job, or someone with two part-time jobs, will be counted twice. BRES does not include the self-employed in its employee job estimates. Employee job estimates for Northern Ireland, split by gender and working pattern are presented in the bulletin. Key facts from the bulletin are presented below.

Key points:

Employee jobs increased by 2.3% over the year to September 2017

• BRES 2017 indicated that the total number of employee jobs in Northern Ireland in September 2017 was 756,365.  This represents an increase in employee jobs of 16,750 (2.3%) from September 2016.

Employee jobs increased in each of the four headline industries

• BRES 2017 saw an increase in employee jobs across all of the 4 headline industries. The services industry had the largest increase in the number of employee jobs (11,477 or 1.9%) over the year to September 2017.  While manufacturing jobs increased by 2,928 or 3.6% over the period in question, the largest proportional growth was experienced in the construction industry (4.7% corresponding to 1,557 jobs).  The ‘other’ industry which includes Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing; Mining and Quarrying; Electricity, Gas, Stem and Air Conditioning Supply; and Water Supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities industry also saw an increase of 3.6% (789 jobs) over the year to September 2017.
• The employee job profile in Northern Ireland remains dominated by the services industry with 81% of employee jobs in this sector.  Manufacturing jobs account for 11% of the total with 5% of jobs in the construction industry and the remaining 3% of jobs classified as ‘other’. The proportion of jobs in each of the 4 headline industries has remained relatively unchanged from 2016.

Employee jobs increased in both the private and public sector

• BRES 2017 estimated the number of public sector jobs and private sector jobs at 202,227 and 554,138, respectively. 
• Public sector jobs increased by 1.3% over the period. The growth in the public sector can largely be attributed to an increase in female part-time jobs of 2,909 (4.9%). According to BRES figures, this is the first time the number of public sector jobs has increased since 2013. 
• Employee jobs in the private sector also increased over the period rising by 14,082 jobs or 2.6%.

Employee job changes at District Council Area (DCA) level were mostly driven by increases in the services industry

•  All DCAs in Northern Ireland saw an increase in employee jobs with the exception of Antrim & Newtownabbey, where a small decrease of 0.7% was observed over the year to September 2017. It should be noted that DCA changes in employee jobs over the year can be affected by the relocation of jobs within Northern Ireland.  In some DCAs this can have a significant impact.
• Belfast saw the largest increase in the number of employee jobs of all the DCAs, growing by 2.6% or 5,631 jobs. In contrast, Fermanagh & Omagh saw the largest proportional increase in employee jobs at 5.1% or 2,106 jobs.
• Despite the changes within DCAs the proportion of employee jobs across the 11 District Council Areas remains relatively unchanged between 2016 and 2017. Belfast District Council Area has the highest proportion of employee jobs (224,149 or 30%) followed by Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon (76,247 or 10%). 
• Ards and North Down has the lowest number of employee jobs (39,306 or 5.2%) and Causeway Coast & Glens has the second lowest number of employee jobs (41,797 or 5.5%)  across the 11 District Council Areas in Northern Ireland.

Upcoming Releases:

The Economic and Labour Market Statistics Branch will release the following publications in October 2018:

• Northern Ireland Composite Economic Index on 11 October
• Construction Output Statistics on 11 October
• Labour Market Report on 16 October

A separate briefing will be issued, on the day of publication, for each of these releases

Notes to editors: 

1. BRES provides employee job estimates for Northern Ireland, split by gender and working pattern.  BRES counts the number of jobs rather than the number of persons with a job. As a result, a person holding both a full-time job and a part-time job, or someone with two part-time jobs, will be counted twice. The BRES employee job estimates do not include those that are self-employed.

2. The BRES data is disaggregated at sub-Northern Ireland geographical levels. The geographical information is, for the most part, based on the location of the jobs at a local unit level. Businesses often relocate employee jobs from one area to another. This causes changes in employee job counts at geographical levels. The relocation or change of reporting procedures by large employers can therefore affect BRES sub-NI analysis when making annual comparisons. 

3. The full report is available on the NISRA website

4. For media enquiries, please contact DfE Press Office on 028 9052 9604. Out of office hours please contact the duty press officer on 028 9037 8110.

5. Feedback is welcomed and should be addressed to:

Responsible statistician:

Arlene Connolly,

Economic & Labour Market Statistics Branch (ELMS)

arlene.connolly@nisra.gov.uk or Tel: 028 90529606

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