{"id":937844,"date":"2026-05-04T20:49:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/937844\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T20:49:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:49:23","slug":"education-and-jobs-in-ni-does-derry-londonderry-have-the-lowest-employment-rate-in-ni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/937844\/","title":{"rendered":"Education and jobs in NI: Does Derry\/Londonderry have the lowest employment rate in NI?"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>According to the most recent figures, Derry City and Strabane has the lowest employment rate of all council areas in Northern Ireland (64.0%).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>This is 4 percentage points lower than the next lowest council area (Causeway Coast and Glens, 68.0%). The figure for NI overall is 74.3%.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The latest data (2023-24) for the destination of school leavers shows that Derry City and Strabane actually had the third-lowest proportion (37.6%) of school leavers heading into Higher Education, not the second lowest, behind Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (36.1%) and Causeway Coast and Glens (36.4%).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Across Northern Ireland, 40.3% of school leavers moved into Higher Education.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In a 21 April article for the Belfast Telegraph, journalist and policy expert Paul Gosling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk\/business\/proposed-magee-expansion-stirs-up-debate-over-hmos-in-derry\/a\/146038391.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claimed<\/a> that:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDerry has Northern Ireland\u2019s lowest employment rate alongside the second-lowest proportion of school leavers going into higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are two aspects to this claim:<\/p>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Derry\/Londonderry has the lowest employment rate in NI.<\/li>\n<li>It also has the second-lowest proportion of school leavers moving into Higher Education.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The first aspect is supported by evidence.<\/p>\n<p>The latest figures for employment by local authority area cover the calendar year of 2024. <strong>Derry City and Strabane is the district with the lowest employment rate at 64.0% \u2013 4 percentage points (pp) lower than the second-lowest area<\/strong> (Causeway Coast and Glens, 68.0%) and <strong>over 10pp lower than the overall NI employment rate (74.3%).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The second aspect is slightly inaccurate.<\/p>\n<p>According to the latest data, covering 2023-24, <strong>Derry City and Strabane is the local authority with the third-lowest proportion (37.6%) of school leavers moving into Higher Education.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Proportions in the districts of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (36.1%) and Causeway Coast and Glens (36.4%) are both lower, while the overall NI rate is higher (40.3%).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For more information, read on.<\/p>\n<p>FactCheckNI contacted Mr Gosling about this claim. Regarding employment figures, he pointed us to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency\u2019s (NISRA) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nisra.gov.uk\/statistics\/work-pay-and-benefits\/labour-force-survey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Labour Market Report<\/a> \u2013 specifically, the 2024 annual figures (this is the most recent year for which there is an annual report with full analysis). He also stated that:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI generally quote employment rate rather than unemployment rate as it provides a more relevant guide to productivity capacity and recognises that, especially in NI, we have a substantial level of what might be termed \u2018hidden unemployment\u2019, which is economic inactivity. There is a high negative correlation between economic inactivity and qualifications.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For more information on the differences between figures for employment, unemployment and economic inactivity, read <a href=\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/articles\/labour-market-in-ni-does-ni-have-the-lowest-unemployment-on-these-islands\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this article.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Regarding the destinations of school leavers, he pointed us to the NISRA publication <a href=\"https:\/\/www.education-ni.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/education\/Qualifications%20and%20Destinations%20of%20Northern%20Ireland%20School%20Leavers%202021-22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Qualifications and Destinations of Northern Ireland School Leavers 2021-22.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Official statistics for employment rates for NI broken down by local authority area can be found in the annual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nisra.gov.uk\/statistics\/work-pay-and-benefits\/labour-force-survey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Labour Market Report<\/a>, which is based on analysis of the quarterly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nisra.gov.uk\/statistics\/work-pay-and-benefits\/labour-force-survey#toc-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Labour Force Surveys.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NISRA also publishes monthly Labour Market Reports, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nisra.gov.uk\/publications\/labour-market-report-april-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">most recent<\/a> of which covers April this year, but these are less comprehensive than the annual publications and do not include employment figures broken down by local government area.<\/p>\n<p>The most recent quarterly update on Labour Force Surveys was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nisra.gov.uk\/publications\/quarterly-labour-force-survey-tables-february-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published<\/a> in February. It is accompanied by the most up-to-date published annual data (covering 2024) for employment rates for local government districts.<\/p>\n<p>Bear in mind that, because this data is broken down by council area, the figures in question are for Derry City and Strabane district rather than the city of Derry\/Londonderry specifically.<\/p>\n<p>The data indicates that <strong>not only does Derry City and Strabane have the lowest total employment rate (64.0%) of any of Northern Ireland\u2019s local authority areas, it is the lowest by four percentage points<\/strong> (below the Causeway Coast and Glens on 68.0%) and <strong>over 10pp below the overall Northern Ireland employment rate (74.3%).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, it has the lowest employment rate for both males and females. The figures are laid out in the table below:<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Local Government District<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Male (%)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Female (%)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Total (%)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Antrim and Newtownabbey<\/td>\n<td>76.1<\/td>\n<td>74.0<\/td>\n<td>75.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Ards and North Down<\/td>\n<td>75.8<\/td>\n<td>75.5<\/td>\n<td>75.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon<\/td>\n<td>84.1<\/td>\n<td>74.8<\/td>\n<td>79.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Belfast<\/td>\n<td>74.9<\/td>\n<td>66.2<\/td>\n<td>70.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Causeway Coast and Glens<\/td>\n<td>74.7<\/td>\n<td>62.0<\/td>\n<td>68.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Derry City and Strabane<\/td>\n<td>68.5<\/td>\n<td>59.9<\/td>\n<td>64.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Fermanagh and Omagh<\/td>\n<td>79.4<\/td>\n<td>69.8<\/td>\n<td>75.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Lisburn and Castlereagh<\/td>\n<td>82.9<\/td>\n<td>77.3<\/td>\n<td>80.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mid and East Antrim<\/td>\n<td>80.8<\/td>\n<td>67.6<\/td>\n<td>74.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mid Ulster<\/td>\n<td>80.0<\/td>\n<td>75.0<\/td>\n<td>77.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Newry Mourne and Down<\/td>\n<td>84.4<\/td>\n<td>72.3<\/td>\n<td>78.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Northern Ireland<\/td>\n<td>78.4<\/td>\n<td>70.3<\/td>\n<td>74.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>Figure 1 \u2013 source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nisra.gov.uk\/publications\/quarterly-labour-force-survey-tables-february-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NISRA<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>This provides good evidence in support of the first part of the claim.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What about higher education?<\/p>\n<p>Mr Gosling cited NISRA\u2019s annual report (for 2021-22) on school leavers as his source for the claim that Derry\/Londonderry has the second-lowest proportion of school leavers going into higher education.<\/p>\n<p>As with employment figures, the localised data covers Derry City and Strabane in comparison with NI\u2019s other ten local authority areas, rather than the city of Derry\/Londonderry specifically.<\/p>\n<p>However, the report noted by Mr Gosling is<strong> not actually the latest annual bulletin on school leavers.<\/strong> Instead, a more recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.education-ni.gov.uk\/publications\/school-leavers-202324\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2023-24 edition<\/a> was published last May.<\/p>\n<p>According to data accompanying <a href=\"https:\/\/datavis.nisra.gov.uk\/DEstatistics\/Qualifications-and-Destinations-of-Northern-Ireland-School-Leavers-202324.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Qualifications and Destinations of Northern Ireland School Leavers 2023-24<\/a>, <strong>Derry City and Strabane actually has the third lowest proportion of school leavers moving into Higher Education<\/strong> \u2013 behind the districts of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, and also Causeway Coast and Glens \u2013 <strong>rather than the second lowest (which was the case in 2021-22).<\/strong> This data can be seen in the table below:<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Local Government District<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Number of school leavers<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Moving into Higher Education (number)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Moving into Higher Education (%)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Antrim and Newtownabbey<\/td>\n<td>1,842<\/td>\n<td>754<\/td>\n<td>40.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Ards and North Down<\/td>\n<td>1,909<\/td>\n<td>728<\/td>\n<td>38.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon<\/td>\n<td>2,954<\/td>\n<td>1,066<\/td>\n<td>36.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Belfast<\/td>\n<td>3,716<\/td>\n<td>1,497<\/td>\n<td>40.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Causeway Coast and Glens<\/td>\n<td>1,838<\/td>\n<td>669<\/td>\n<td>36.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Derry City and Strabane<\/td>\n<td>2,066<\/td>\n<td>777<\/td>\n<td>37.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Fermanagh and Omagh<\/td>\n<td>1,579<\/td>\n<td>694<\/td>\n<td>44.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Lisburn and Castlereagh<\/td>\n<td>1,817<\/td>\n<td>846<\/td>\n<td>46.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mid and East Antrim<\/td>\n<td>1,684<\/td>\n<td>738<\/td>\n<td>43.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mid Ulster<\/td>\n<td>1,978<\/td>\n<td>750<\/td>\n<td>37.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Newry, Mourne and Down<\/td>\n<td>2,250<\/td>\n<td>976<\/td>\n<td>43.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Invalid, Missing or Unknown Postcodes<\/td>\n<td>108<\/td>\n<td>66<\/td>\n<td>61.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Total Leavers<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>23,741<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>9,561<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>40.3<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>Figure 2 \u2013 source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nisra.gov.uk\/news\/202324-qualifications-and-destinations-northern-ireland-school-leavers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NISRA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Based on this evidence, <strong>this second aspect of Mr Gosling\u2019s claim is not quite right. The Derry\/Londonderry figures for school leavers moving into Higher Education are still towards the lower end of scale and the Derry City and Strabane rate (37.6%) is almost 3pp below the NI average (40.3%).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The total proportion of school leavers heading into Higher Education in 2023-24 was around 3pp lower for both Derry City and Strabane (37.6% vs 40.3%) and for Northern Ireland overall (40.3% vs 43.7%) compared with 2021-22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to the most recent figures, Derry City and Strabane has the lowest employment rate of all council&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":937845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[262015,3374,18109,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-937844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-derry-londonderry","9":"tag-employment","10":"tag-higher-education","11":"tag-northern-ireland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116518280799910725","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}