October redundancies hit 2020 high - according to official statistics

The BBC are reporting that there were 1,240 redundancies recorded by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) - the second highest monthly total on record.

A further 1,530 have been proposed between the start of October and 6 November.

Proposed redundancies are when an employer tells the government it will be making 20 or more people redundant.

These have more than doubled over the year.

However, the figure doesn’t include firms making fewer than 20 staff redundant, so is likely to be an underestimate.

Northern Ireland’s unemployment rate increased over the quarter and the year to 3.6% in July to September.

The rate is below the UK rate of 4.8%.