The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) recently published a report entitled ‘Insecure and Uncertain: Precarious Work in the Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland’.

Chapter 5 of the report concerns the position in Northern Ireland. Here is a summary of ICTU’s findings in this jurisdiction:

Statistics in Northern Ireland

According to the report 11.4% are self-employed; 6% are in temporary, non-permanent arrangements and overall there has been a 25% increase in the number of workers in temporary employment from 2008-2016. There has been a 43% increase in the number of involuntary temporary employed and a 35% increase in the number of voluntary part-time employed.

The Decline of the Traditional ‘Standard’ of Full-Time Permanent Employment

The vast majority of people are in permanent full-time employment yet trends suggest there has been a decline in the traditional ‘standard’ of full-time permanent employment owing to a decreasing number of ‘standard’ full-time, permanent jobs.

The Extent of Precarious Employment

Numbers in temporary employment have significantly increased since 2008. At the end of 2016 approximately 46,000 workers in NI were in some form of temporary, non-permanent work (6% of the overall workforce). Part-time temporary work seems the most popular. In the last quarter of 2016 it is estimated there were over 26,000 workers in part-time employment, up from 18,200 in 2008.

Who are the Temporary Employed?

Gender: The report suggests there are equal proportions of males and females with regards full-time employment yet in terms of part-time employment females ranked higher at 68%.
Age: The majority of those who are in temporary employment are aged 18-34.

Education: In full-time temporary employment the majority of people are educated to degree level. The opposite is the case for those in part-time temporary employment where over two-thirds have below degree level qualifications.

Sector: Similar proportions of temporary workers are employed in the private and public sector – a notable difference when compared with the 2008 figures whereby 60% of temporary workers were in the private sector, and 40% were in the public sector.

Occupation: Professionals comprise close to one-third of the temporary employed (32%) or approximately 14,600 workers. A further fifth are found to work in caring, leisure and other service occupations (20%), while some 13% of temporary workers are in sales, customer service and elementary occupations.

Self-Employment without Employees

This figure has risen dramatically when compared with previous figures.

By the end of 2016 there were 17,000 more people self-employed without employees than there was at the end of 2008. This equates to a 23% increase in the numbers self-employed without employees. As a share of the overall labour force self-employed workers without employees increased from 9.8% to 11.4%.

Who are the Self-Employed without Employees?

Gender: Approximately three out of four of the self-employed without employees are male (74%).

Age: The majority of the self-employed without employees are aged between 35 and 54.

Education: More than four out of five of the self-employed without employees are educated to below degree level (83%). Less than one out of five of the self-employed without employees have degree level or higher qualifications.

Where do the Self-Employed without Employee’s Work?

Industry: The construction sector featured highly (23%). Banking and finance followed (17%), and the transport and communication sector (14%) thereafter. The remainder of the self-employed without employees are spread fairly evenly across the other sectors with some exceptions.

Occupation: A large proportion are in skilled trades occupations (44%). Other occupations that featured highly included professional (12%); technical and associate professional occupations (12%); and process, plant and machine operative occupations (12%).

Other Forms of Insecure Employment

In 2016 over one in three workers in temporary employment or approximately 17,083 workers in Northern Ireland said that they only took a temporary job because no permanent job was available.
Notably, in 2008 there was approximately 23,600 workers involuntary part-time employed. By 2016 this figure had increased to just under 32,000 workers.

“The fact that neither the proportions of involuntary temporary employed or involuntary part-time employed have returned close to their pre-recession rates, even as employment has increased, raises concerns that such undesirable situations have not tracked the recovery in terms of the numbers of people in employment and may remain as a more prominent feature of the labour market for the longer term.”
https://www.ictu.ie/download/pdf/precarious_work_final_dec_2017.pdf