The official figures point to a record number of jobs in Q2 2018, with the service sector and private sector as a whole hitting all-time highs. Meanwhile, manufacturing sector employment is at levels last seen 16-years ago.
Job Listings Increase
When it comes to Q3, it is clear from the latest NI Jobs report is that there is still a plentiful supply of job vacancies in Northern Ireland across a wide range of disciplines. Indeed, the number of vacancies has never been higher, with seven of the 32 job categories posting their highest levels of vacancies to date.
Not surprisingly, IT remains the sector advertising the most vacancies and together with engineering, they account for one-five of all jobs listings. It was the third consecutive quarter in which the number of listings has increased and overall, listing have risen by a quarter in the past year.
This is a reflection of both the rate at which new jobs are being created and the fact that a significant number of vacancies are emerging from existing positions.
Skills Shortages Concern
While there have been signs in the official figures that unemployment is on the rise again from record lows, skills shortages remain prevalent. A deficit in skills has been a longstanding problem within the Northern Ireland economy, particularly in some sectors, however, this appears to be moving up a gear, in part related to the number of EU nationals now leaving Northern Ireland for more lucrative opportunities elsewhere in the EU.
This is likely to intensify further given the UK’s desire to restrict migrant labour, and the challenge for the Northern Ireland economy is increasingly going to be job replacement and retention rather than just job creation.
The key question is going to be where the staff are going to come from. Enticing the economically inactive into the labour market and equipping them with the right skills has to move up the agenda.
 
Key Highlights for Q3
 
– IT remains the sector advertising the most vacancies
– IT and Engineering together account for 1 in 5 of all job listings
– Third consecutive quarter that number of listings has increased
– Seven of the 32 employment categories hit record highs
– Record highs were recorded in the following categories:
o Engineering
o General Management & Consulting
o Marketing
o Motoring
o IT
o Social, Charity & Not for Profit
o Transport, Logistics & Warehousing
– A number of categories saw listings near record highs in Q3 2018. These included: Production, Manufacturing and Materials; Science, Agriculture, Pharmaceutical & Food; and Customer Service, Call Centres & Languages
– Record lows were recorded for Sales and Nursing, Healthcare & Medical categories
– Retailing, Wholesaling & Purchasing has witnessed an increase in advertised vacancies. Following a record low in Q4 2017, listings in this category have hit a 2-year high.
– Overall listings hit an all-time high and have risen by close to one-quarter (23%) in 1 year and by well over a third (37%) in 3 years.
– The top five categories account for over 40% of all listings
Richard Ramsey is Chief Economist, Northern Ireland, at Ulster Bank. In addition to providing regular analysis internally at the bank, Richard is a frequent economic commentator in the media and a regular columnist in newspapers Northern Ireland. You can read more from Richard on his blog Ulster Economix.