The Government Statistics and Research Agency today published a new report on the employment characteristics of Protestants and Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland. The report, is based on the 2000-2001 Labour Force Survey, and contains a wealth of information on the contemporary economic circumstances of the two communities, and provides historic information from this survey stretching back to 1990.
Some of the main findings of the report are detailed below:
In 2000, the religious composition of the Northern Ireland economically active population was 43% Catholic and 57% Protestant. (The economically active population, are those people aged 16 and over, who are either in work or unemployed and actively seeking work).
The religious composition of those in employment was 42% Catholic and 58% Protestant. However, among the unemployed, the religious composition was 56% Catholic and 44% Protestant.
Among males, Catholics comprised 42.4% of the economically active and 41.5% of those in employment - an employment gap of 0.9 of a percentage point. Among females, Catholics constituted 43.1% of the economically active and 42.1% of those in employment - an employment gap of 1.0 percentage point.
For both males and females, the labour force participation rate of Protestants was higher than that of Catholics.
The unemployment rate for Catholics (9%) was substantially higher than that for Protestants (5%). Among females, 8% of Catholics were unemployed compared with 4% of Protestants whereas among males, 9% of Catholics compared with 6% of Protestants were unemployed.
The difference between the unemployment rates of the two communities has narrowed since 1993 from 8.7 to 3.6 percentage points (in 1993 the unemployment rate for Catholics was 18.1% and for Protestants the rate was 9.4% - a difference of 8.7 percentage points. In 2000 the Catholic unemployment rate was 8.8%% and the Protestant rate was 5.2% - a difference of 3.6 percentage points).
The unemployment differential, that is the ratio of the Catholic unemployment rate to the Protestant rate, was 1.6 for males, 1.9 for females and 1.7 overall for both sexes.
Among the unemployed a higher proportion of Protestants (50%) than Catholics (43%) had been unemployed for one year or more.
As regards the main occupational groupings of those in employment, Protestant representation was highest in Plant and machine operatives (65%), while Catholic representation was highest in Professional occupations (48%) and in Associate professional and technical occupations (48%).
With respect to the industrial classification of those in employment, Protestant representation was highest in Agriculture, hunting and forestry (67%), Financial intermediation (67%) and in Manufacturing (67%), while Catholic representation was highest amongst those employed in Construction (52%).
Catholic representation was highest in small sized workplaces i.e. 1-10 employees (46%), and lowest in large workplaces employing 50 or more persons (37%).
Overall, a higher proportion of Catholics than Protestants had qualifications above A-level. The statistics are based on the findings of the 2000 Labour Force Survey (LFS). The LFS is a sample survey conducted in all member states of the European Union, the main purpose being to obtain comparable data on the characteristics of the workforce within each country and region of the EU. Since Winter 94/95 the LFS has been conducted on a quarterly basis and hence this report relates to the results obtained across four of these quarterly surveys. The period covered by the 2000 dataset was from March 2000 to February 2001.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The 2000 Labour Force Survey religion report is based on a random sample of approximately 3,200 households in Northern Ireland and accordingly any estimates derived from it are subject to sampling error.
The report also includes information on the reasons for economic inactivity, the main methods of job search used by the unemployed and participation in training.
Copies of the Monitor and further information can be obtained from:
Human Resource Research & Evaluation Branch
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
Room 151a
Rosepark House
Upper Newtownards Road
BELFAST
BT4 3NR
Tel: (028) 9052 6258
Fax: (028) 9052 6343