Business Register and Employment Survey 2022

The Business Register and Employment Survey 2022 statistics were published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

Economic Output Statistics published.

• The latest Northern Ireland Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) statistics were released to the public this morning at 9.30am by NISRA. The data relate to 5 September 2022. Corresponding figures for the whole of the UK will be released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 25 October 2023.
   
• BRES is an annual statutory survey of businesses requesting information on working owners, employee jobs and business activity. NISRA wishes to thank businesses for responding to the survey. Business survey data have a range of uses. Most recently during the pandemic they informed the development, implementation, and evaluation of COVID-related business support schemes.
   
• 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. Key facts from the bulletin are presented below.

The total employment in Northern Ireland at September 2022 was 836,873

• The total employment in Northern Ireland at September 2022 was 836,873. Employment includes employees plus the number of working owners, who receive drawings and/or a share of the profits but are not paid via pay-as-you-earn (PAYE). The largest proportion of working owners was in Construction (6,161 or 14% of total Construction employment).

Employee jobs increased by 1.7% over the year to September 2022

• BRES 2022 indicated that the total number of employee jobs in Northern Ireland at September 2022 was 805,848. This represents an increase in employee jobs of 13,222 (1.7%) from September 2021.

Employee jobs increased in Construction, Manufacturing, and Services but declined in Other industries

• The Service industry dominated employee jobs in Northern Ireland, accounting for 81% (655,661) of the total. The second largest industry was Manufacturing with 88,026 jobs (11%), and together they accounted for over 9 in every 10 employee jobs (92%) in Northern Ireland.
   
• Employee jobs increased in Manufacturing, Services and Construction while there was a decline in Other over the year, following increases across all headline industries in the previous year. The increase in employee jobs was driven by growth in the Service industry (11,193 jobs), which was responsible for 85% of the total increase.
   
• Construction and Manufacturing both grew over the year to September 2022, with a further 829 (2.2%) Construction jobs and 1,323 (1.5%) Manufacturing jobs. Growth was higher than in the previous year for Construction (0.8%).

Employee jobs increased in both the public and private sectors

• BRES 2022 estimated the number of private sector jobs as 587,210, an increase of 1.5% (8,797) over the year. The number of public sector jobs was 218,638, an increase of 2.1% (4,425) over the same period.
   
• The public sector accounts for 27% of employee jobs in NI. This compares to 18% in UK as a whole.

Employee jobs increased in all district council areas in Northern Ireland except for Mid and East Antrim

• All district council areas in Northern Ireland saw an increase in employee jobs except for Mid and East Antrim, where a very small, insignificant decline (20 jobs) was observed over the year. Belfast experienced the largest increase in number of jobs (3,623 or 1.6%) whereas Lisburn and Castlereagh saw the largest percentage increase in employee jobs at 3.3% (or 2,018 jobs).
   
• Employee job changes at district council area level were mostly driven by increases in the Service industry. This was particularly true of Belfast (2,758) and Lisburn and Castlereagh (2,177).
   
• Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon saw the largest increase in Construction jobs over the year (371 or 8.4%), while Lisburn and Castlereagh saw the highest percentage growth (9.0% or 314). Mid Ulster saw the largest decline in Construction employee jobs (6.2% or 369).
   
• Newry Mourne and Down had the largest increase and percentage increase in Manufacturing jobs (9.1% or 746) of the eleven district council areas whilst, Lisburn and Castlereagh saw the largest decline (8.1% or 483).

Notes to editors: 

1. The statistical bulletin and associated tables are available on the BRES Publication and Tables 2022 page of the NISRA website.

2. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency wishes to thank the businesses who responded to the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES).

3. The latest Northern Ireland Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) statistics were released to the public this morning at 9.30am by NISRA. These data were collected on 5 September 2022.  Corresponding figures for the whole of the UK will be released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 28 September 2023.

4. BRES is an annual survey of businesses requesting information on the number of employee jobs and business activity.  In 2022, approximately 34,000 businesses (approximately 44% of all VAT and/or PAYE registered businesses in Northern Ireland) were surveyed and an effective response rate of 74% was achieved.  The sample size in 2022 allows employee jobs to be disaggregated to smaller geographical levels and to lower industry levels.

5. 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.  Employee job estimates for Northern Ireland, split by gender and working pattern are presented in the bulletin. 

6. The BRES data are 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.

7. The BRES Report will be of interest to policy makers, public bodies, the business community, banks, economic commentators, academics and the general public with an interest in the local economy.

8. For media enquiries contact the Department for the Economy Press Office at pressoffice@economy-ni.gov.uk

9. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.

10. To keep up to date with news from the Department you can follow us on the following social media channels:

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11. Feedback is welcomed and should be addressed to:

Responsible statistician: Andrew Dunn, Economic & Labour Market Statistics (ELMS), andrew.dunn@nisra.gov.uk or Tel: 028 90529437

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