Economic inactivity in Northern Ireland

Project phases and description

Phase 1: The multidimensional, place-based drivers of economic inactivity in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has the highest rate of economic inactivity in the United Kingdom, and the gap with the national average has increased in recent years. Northern Ireland faces specific challenges. For instance, not only does it have historically higher rates of economic inactivity linked to ill health and sickness than the rest of the UK, but it also has experienced (in the last decade) the largest increases in economic inactivity among the working-age population due to sickness and disability. This project aims to provide a clear assessment of the current evidence-base around multidimensional place-related determinants of economic inactivity.

Through a collaboration between researchers at Ulster University and the London School of Economics, a series of rapid reviews will explore how local economic and social factors interact with macroeconomic drivers to produce disparities in the rates of inactivity. While focusing on Northern Ireland, the reviews will also consider the wider international evidence where this can inform the local Northern Ireland context.

The series of reviews will cover:

1. Community and identity - including long-run (multigenerational) joblessness and the significance of social identities such as religious and community affiliation.
2. Health and social care - including chronic conditions, disability and the availability of local health and social services.
3. Social capital - including the availability of formal and informal institutions of support, e.g. the family, community support services, childcare, education and universities.
4. Geography and infrastructure - including rurality and peripherality, and the associated implications of transport infrastructure and services (e.g. the availability of high-speed internet for home-working).
5. Industrial structure - including the diversity of employment opportunities and the impact of declining/emerging industries.
6. Gender and age (although not place-specific, we recognise that gender- and age-related barriers may amplify place-based impediments to economic activity).

The project will lead to a consolidated report covering the six review areas as well as a series of evidence bulletins to summarise the key findings.

Phase 2: What works to address place-based economic inactivity?

Building on phase 1, this project explores the policy implications of the identified interconnections between the different drivers of economic inactivity in NI. Understanding 'what works' to tackle economic inactivity means leveraging approaches that bear on multiple drivers, maximising complementarity. Much can be learned from international exemplars on what already works for tackling interconnected multiple drivers in their place-specific contex. This project combines a review of international approaches to tackle economic inactivity and engagement workshops with local (NI) expert stakeholders.

The key questions guiding this phase of the project are:

1. How do other nations or regions successfully engage economically inactive individuals, especially those unlikely to connect with mainstream services like Job Centres?
2. What interventions have been effective in supporting economically inactive groups into employment, especially those with health problems, older people, women, rural dwellers, and individuals with lower-level qualifications?
3. Are there best practice examples of integrated health and employability policies that have successfully increased labour market participation?

The project will identify and evaluate 5 to 7 international interventions and policy approaches in terms of both their effectiveness and transferability to Northern Ireland.