NI economy: Long period of jobs growth may have ended, figures suggest

A long period of jobs growth in the Northern Ireland economy may have ended, new official figures suggest.

The data from HMRC shows that the number of people on company payrolls stalled at around 819,000 between April and August.

The unemployment rate increased slightly to 2.4% in July but remains low by historic standards.

Other figures suggest employers are becoming more cautious, including cutting back on temporary agency workers.

The Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), which covers about 6,000 companies and all public sector employers, suggests that the number of temporary workers fell in the second quarter of 2026.

That came as the QES pointed to a small overall increase in employment, mainly due to hiring in health and social care, which added 2,000 jobs over the quarter.

The biggest fall was the loss of more than 1,000 posts in admin and support services.

It is not clear if this reflects cyclical cost-cutting or is an early sign of AI displacing some lower-skilled, white-collar jobs.

Total hours worked across the economy were also down slightly in the three months to July.

A falling number of hours worked can also suggest that employers are trying to reduce costs by cutting back on overtime.