NI jobless numbers fall again for the 28th month in a row

THE number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Northern Ireland fell by a further 900 in April.

The total now starts at 44,300 and it is the 28th consecutive month there has been a fall in claimants.

Over the last 12 months, the number of people claiming unemployment benefit has fallen by almost 12,000.

The figures have been published by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

The other measure of unemployment, the Labour Force Survey, showed an unemployment rate of 6.2% in the first quarter of this year.

That is one percentage point less than the figures for last year and half a percentage point less than the previous quarter.