Analysis of employee skills in Northern Ireland published

26 June 2008

The Department for Employment and Learning has published the findings of a research report looking at work skills of employees in Northern Ireland.

Entitled ‘Skills at Work in Northern Ireland 2006’ the report presents the findings of a survey of jobs, where the main features of the jobs are reported by the employees themselves.

The report examines the distribution of job skills among those in work and compares job skills in Northern Ireland with those elsewhere in the UK.

Some of the main findings of the report include:

  • In 2006, three out of ten jobs (30.0%) in Northern Ireland required a level 4 or above qualification for entry. However, a quarter of jobs (25.1%) required no qualifications on entry.
  • Computers are used in 68.1% of jobs in Northern Ireland. In 41.1% of jobs, computer usage is 'essential' for the job, and in 14.5% of jobs it involves using computers in 'complex' or 'advanced' ways.
  • In Northern Ireland, one in two (50.3%) respondents claimed to have 'a great deal' of influence over their work effort, while two out of five (42.2%) claimed to have 'a great deal' of influence over quality standards.
  • Two-thirds (65.3%) of Northern Ireland employees received some form of training in the year prior to being surveyed. The impact of training on work performance was high. For example, nine out of ten Northern Ireland respondents said that it was important for keeping up-to-date with developments in the job; that it had helped them to improve their work practices; and that it had improved their skills.

This report will help inform an interim assessment of Success through Skills, the Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland. It will also be used to establish a benchmark from which to monitor progress/change over time and to make useful comparisons with other UK regions.

The report is available to download from the Department’s website on http://www.delni.gov.uk/workskillsni2006.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

  • This report presents evidence on work skills in NI drawn from data collected for the 2006 Skills Survey. The survey forms part of the work of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre for Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE). The Skills Survey generated a high quality and reasonably large representative sample of working individuals living in the United Kingdom aged 20 – 65, consisting of 7,787 respondents. A total of 498 of these were in Northern Ireland.
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