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Unemployment

Volume 472: debated on Thursday 21 February 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the level of unemployment was in Northern Ireland in each of the last eight years. (185681)

Following the restoration of devolution on 8 May 2007 Northern Ireland Ministers became responsible for the running of the Northern Ireland Departments. The information requested is set out in the following table which has been provided by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland (DETI).

Unemployment estimates are sourced to the Northern Ireland Labour Force Survey and the latest estimates relate to the period October to December 2007. DETI advise that annual estimates are not available for the full period requested, so estimates for the last quarter of each year have been provided for comparison purposes.

Unemployment in Northern Ireland, final quarter, 2000 to 2007

Period (October to December each year)

Unemployment level

Unemployment rate (percentage)

2007

34,000

4.2

2006

34,000

4.2

2005

35,000

4.5

2004

36,000

4.6

2003

48,000

6.2

2002

43,000

5.5

2001

44,000

5.9

2000

45,000

6.1