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A blog from the Northern Ireland Assembly Research and Information Service

Economy and Finance Blog Archive

Here you will find an archive of Economy and Finance Blog articles published before 1 May 2022, divided into their relevant categories.

Economy

A photograph of Belfast City Hall
On 26 March 2019, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (NI) signed an agreement between the United Kingdom (UK) Government, the NI Civil Service and six of the…
Map showing the top five NI export markets 2017
Please note: we have posted a new version of this blog article using the most recent HMRC annual trade data, see here. This blog post uses the most recent…
While women are increasingly better educated than men, they earn less, feel less financially secure, provide the bulk of unpaid care, have smaller pensions, face greater hardship in later…

Employment and Labour Market

Image showing the word 'wages' spelled out with some cash behind.
Do you know the hourly minimum wage rates for workers in Northern Ireland? Currently, the rates are determined under three separate schemes: the ‘National Living Wage’; the ‘National Minimum…
A bar graph showing the gender pay gap in Northern Ireland since 1998
By Michael Scholes & Aidan Stennett To highlight International Women’s Day, this blog article updates a previous one examining the Gender Pay Gap in Northern Ireland, by presenting the…
Image by perzonseo.com, used under Creative Commons 2.0
By Michael Scholes & Aidan Stennett Please note: we have posted a new version of this blog article using the most recent data, see here. To highlight International Women’s…

Energy

Image of wind farm in front of a setting sun
There was considerable growth in the development of renewable electricity over the previous Northern Ireland Assembly mandate. Changes to renewable electricity support may impact the ability to achieve similar levels…

Enterprise and Investment

This post examines financial support provided by Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) to businesses located in Northern Ireland (NI) from 2013-14 to 2017-18, identifying key impacts arising from that…

Finance

An image showing the Northern Ireland Budget Act 2019, with a selection of cash
This blog article provides an update on Northern Ireland public finances in the absence of fully functioning devolved government. It explains recently enacted budget legislation and notes political developments…
An image of closed shop units and 'To Let' signs
On 9 May 2019 the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Finance (DoF) announced a fresh appraisal of the fundamental features of the Northern Ireland (NI) rating system. This…
A chart showing the scale of change in TES proportions in % points, 1999-2000 to 2016-2017
The finances of Northern Ireland’s schools have been in the spotlight for some time. For example, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster is currently holding an Inquiry into…

Research and Innovation

This post examines financial support provided by Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) to businesses located in Northern Ireland (NI) from 2013-14 to 2017-18, identifying key impacts arising from that…
An image of a microscope
  This week sees people across Northern Ireland getting interested and involved in science through the Northern Ireland Science Festival. We thought we would join the celebration of all…
Cover pages of the 2012 Economic Strategy and 2017 draft Industrial Strategy
Following on from a recent blog post on ‘a revised strategy for Northern Ireland’s Economy’, this post looks at the Department for the Economy’s draft Industrial Strategy and highlights…