Stormont has been urged to prioritise supporting people into work after a rise in economic inactivity.

The latest figures show growth in the proportion classified as economically inactive, most of whom are those of working age with sickness and disability, carers for family members, full-time students, and early retirees.

Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald said the 1.8 percentage point increase over the past 12 months to 27.2% was not statistically significant and “within the expected sampling variability”.

The regional rate is 5.8 percentage points higher than the overall UK rate of 21.4%.

A member of the assembly’s economy committee said the increase was due to Stormont “abandoning some of the most vulnerable people in our society”, while the head of a think-tank urged the devolved administration to do more to encourage people into work.

In a recent written response to an assembly question, the Sinn Féin minister described economic activity as a “persistent and long-standing issue for the economy in the north” but said policy was led by Communities Minister Gordon Lyons.

Ms Archibald said her department aimed to “improve access to the labour market” with its so-called Good Jobs bill, which the minister aims to have on the statute book by the end of the mandate in two years’ time.

She said she was committed to working with Mr Lyons and Health Minister Mike Nesbitt to “help address barriers to employment”.

The Department for Communities (DfC) said it provided a range of measures to tackle economic inactivity.

“Reasons attributed to economic inactivity are varied and complex, and can include ill health, caring responsibilities, and being in education,” a spokesperson said.

“DfC continues to play its part in tackling economic inactivity across these cross-cutting areas with a wide range of partners.”

Foyle MLA Sinéad McLaughlin said many of those who were economically inactive were “being left behind due to systemic neglect”.

“The rise in economic inactivity is deeply worrying and highlights an Executive that is abandoning some of the most vulnerable people in our society,” she said.

“These aren’t new issues – they’ve been known for years – and yet this executive has done little to address them.”

Ann Watt, director of think tank Pivotal, described the economic inactivity rate as “persistently high” and said the proportion of those not working because of sickness or disability was increasing.

“Worryingly, after being on a downward trend, the rate of inactivity due to sickness or disability has been rising for the last ten years, and is now around 11% of the working age population,” she said.

“While record low levels of unemployment often make the headlines, only by acknowledging the stubbornly high rates of economic inactivity do we get a full picture of the tight labour market for employers, and the untapped potential of so many people who are not currently seeking paid employment and the personal and economic benefits a good job can bring.”

The Pivotal director urged the devolved administration to do more, beginning with a fresh strategy.

“Supporting people into employment should be a top priority for the Northern Ireland Executive, not least with the cuts to disability benefits that are coming from the UK government – Northern Ireland has a much lower rate of employment of people with disabilities than other parts of the UK,” Ms Watt said.

“While there are lots of different employment programmes available, at present Northern Ireland has no targets in place for how economic inactivity will be reduced and no new strategy published for 10 years.”