Editorial: The skills shortage in Northern Ireland is linked to high levels of work inactivity

​There is an estimated skills shortage of 5,400 people per annum across sectors, a report says today.

The Northern Ireland Skills Barometer 2023-2033, developed by the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre, says demographic trends and the structure of the labour market indicate a skills undersupply across all qualification levels. It also found that raising labour force participation is needed so businesses have access to a sufficient supply of labour.

There are many elements to this problem, including the fact that the rich world has been struggling with labour shortages due to changed lifestyle patterns after covid. But the matter of labour participation is not much mentioned in this province.

We have very high levels of economic inactivity, higher than the rest of the UK – more than a quarter of the working age population. Reasons for this include studying and early retirement but the most common factor is long-term sickness. That is, again, a problem that has been exacerbated by the pandemic but was already an issue in NI.

This newspaper has been one of the few media outlets to put a spotlight on high levels of sickness. It is easier to call for yet more funding for benefits than examine the trickier question of why there is so much illness here.

The Troubles is often cited as a reason yet the relatively small number of people who were significantly injured in the violence, or significantly traumatised, does not explain the vast level of sickness. A more plausible explanation is that NI, like parts of the UK including Scotland and NE England, has become dependent on benefits. It is in large part cultural. That is not to say that it is easily resolved – it isn’t – but that we cannot always resort to easy solutions, such as bringing in ever more immigrants.

NI needs to get more of the existing population back into work while increasing the skills pool.