Derry posts second lowest job lay-off rate

There were 60 redundancies in Derry between November 2018 and November 2019 - 54 in May and 6 in September.

This was the fewest numbered registered anywhere apart from in the Fermanagh and Omagh council area where there were 29 over the year.

Across the North as a whole there were 3,096 confirmed redundancies over the year which was an increase of 13 per cent from the previous year (2,742).

Thus Derry and Strabane accounted for just two per cent of total job lay-offs recorded since last November.

The data, which has been newly-released by the Department for the Economy, show that there were 82 confirmed redundancies in the North in October 2019. Twenty-seven of these occurred in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon council area. There were 48 in Mid and East Antrim, an area that has been devastated by 1,326 redundancies over the year.

While the low number of redundancies in Derry may be seen as a positive, it does not necessarily tell the whole story. Under the Employment Rights (NI) Order 1996 companies are only legally required to notify the Department of impending redundancies of 20 or more employees.

“As a result, the figures provided are likely to be an underestimate of total job losses,” said DfE.