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Fair Employment Monitoring Report

Latest edition (2023)

Monitoring Northern Ireland's Workforce 2023 - High level trends over time


The central purpose of employer monitoring information is to allow employers (through their Article 55 reviews) to determine whether members of each community are afforded fair participation in those individual employments, however, there is also interest in considering monitoring figures at the Northern Ireland level.

The Commission’s annual ‘Fair Employment Monitoring Report’ has for more than three decades aggregated monitoring information across all monitored employers in Northern Ireland, to produce composition figures (employees, applicants, appointees, promotees, leavers) at the Northern Ireland level and for key sectors.

By doing so, the report seeks to inform employers and interested parties about aggregate compositional patterns that, alongside other information on local labour availability, might suggest a dynamic or pattern that might better inform their own considerations of fair participation within their own or specific employment(s).

This, the 34th Annual Monitoring Report, presents an aggregated summary of the 3,774 valid monitoring returns received during 2023 from 104 public authorities and 3,670 private sector concerns.  These returns were mostly received between 1st January and 31st December 2023.

This year’s report shows, for the first time since monitoring began, the share of the total monitored workforce from members of the Roman Catholic community was [50.5%] and was greater than from members of the Protestant community [49.5%].


Download the 34th Monitoring Report (pdf, 1.1mb)
 

Key findings
 

Employment Flows

For the fifteenth consecutive year, the Roman Catholic community [53.2%] comprised a greater proportion of applicants than the Protestant community [46.8%].

Members of the Roman Catholic community [52.9%] comprised a greater proportion of appointees.  In 2023, the Roman Catholic community share increased by 0.4 percentage points from the previous year. Overall, their share has increased by [8.1 pp] from [44.8%] in 2001.

In 2023, the Roman Catholic community [52.4%] comprised a greater proportion of leavers than did the Protestant community [47.6%].  Overall, the Protestant community share of leavers has decreased by [8.2 pp] from [55.8%] in 2001.
 


A breakdown of data by sector is available upon request by emailing Simon Hookham at SHookham@equalityni.org


 
 
< Employment What is Fair Employment Monitoring? >
 
Companies data

Data from valid monitoring returns submitted in 2023 by 86 public authorities and 2,492 private companies with 26 or more employees can be downloaded.

  There were 18 public authorities and 1,178 private sector concerns which had 25 or less employees, and these are not included here.

The Commission advises caution when interpreting this data. The composition of a company’s workforce does not have to reflect the overall community composition of Northern Ireland.

1. Public authorities (over 25 employees)

This download provides data on the community background of the total workforce, including part-time employees, from the 86 public authorities that submitted monitoring returns in 2023.
 
 

2. Private sector (over 25 employees)

This download covers the community background of employees from 2,492 private companies with 26 or more employees. It includes part-time staff, as reported in the 2023 monitoring returns.
 
 

3. Appointees to public authorities (over 25 employees)

This download lists the community background of new appointees to the 86 public authorities with 26 or more employees, based on 2023 monitoring returns.

 

4. Appointees to private sector companies (over 250 employees)

This download provides similar information for appointees in private sector companies with 251 or more employees.

 

5. Interpreting the data

In cases where fewer than 10 employees from one community were present in a company, no specific data was shared to protect individual privacy. For companies with 10 or more employees from each community, the numbers and percentages of Protestant and Roman Catholic employees were provided, excluding those classified as Non-determined. The reports also include data on appointees to both public and private sector organisations.

The Equality Commission emphasises caution when interpreting this data, noting that workforce composition reflects a snapshot in time and does not necessarily indicate changes in employment patterns. Additionally, the composition of a company’s workforce does not have to mirror the overall community makeup of Northern Ireland. Factors such as the company’s location, job types, and available local labour influence workforce composition. To assess fair participation, a deeper analysis of job groups, recruitment areas, and community availability within the workforce is necessary.

A breakdown of data by sector is available upon request by emailing Simon Hookham at SHookham@equalityni.org

 

 
 



 
< Monitoring Report No.34 - High level trends What is Fair Employment monitoring? >
 

What is Fair Employment Monitoring?


The following downloads may be of help in assisting the reader in understanding the information presented in this report including the range of definitions and methodological points to be considered when interpreting the data, and in the wider concepts associated with fair employment.

What is 'Fair Employment' Monitoring?

Under Fair Employment legislation, employers in Northern Ireland must review their own workforce composition once every three years to assess ‘fair participation’ between the Protestant and Roman Catholic communities and where there is an under-representation, take appropriate affirmative action.

To do this they are required to collect workforce monitoring information on an ongoing basis, and to use that information in their considerations.

Find out more:
 

 

What is the Fair Employment Monitoring Report?

A summary of the monitoring data collected by employers is also submitted to the Commission each year. The Commission has to date used this information to publish an Annual Summary of Fair Employment Monitoring Returns.

The report provides an overview of high level patterns in the aggregate composition of monitored employment and in key sectors, public and private. It also provides details on key sub sectors and, via annexes, specific employers. The information, along with supporting technical tables is also available via this website.

Find out more:
 

 

FAQ: Key Definitions and concepts in Fair Employment

A consideration of fair employment relies on a number of key definitions and concepts, including:
 

  • the ‘community’ focus of monitoring and the meaning of terms such as fair participation; affirmative action; under-representation, catchment area and chill factor

  • those organisations subject to monitoring

  • the aspects of employment that are monitored (employees, applicants, promotees, leavers) and changes in the coverage of monitoring over time


Find out more:
 

 

The Fair Employment Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998

The Fair Employment Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998, prohibits employers from discriminating against or harassing job applicants and employees on the grounds of religious or similar philosophical belief or political opinion.

In addition to prohibiting discrimination, the Order imposes a number of extra duties on certain employers:
 

  • to register with the Equality Commission

  • to monitor the community background and sex of the workforce

  • to submit annual monitoring returns to ECNI

  • to conduct triennial reviews of the composition of the workforce and of employment practices (i.e. “Article 55 Reviews”)

  • to take affirmative action, where it is reasonable and appropriate to do so.


Find out more:
 

 
 

Additional information:

Monitoring Report No.34 - High level trends


A breakdown of data by sector is available upon request by emailing Simon Hookham at SHookham@equalityni.org
 

Trends in Community Proportions of Applications & Appointments to the Private & Public Sectors

Analysis of Fair Employment Monitoring Report Data 1991-2010
This paper considers key trends in applications and appointments (across all monitored employers in Northern Ireland) by community background over time.  Data is summed from that presented annually in the published monitoring reports to consider trends across the public and private sectors, and in key sub-areas of the public sector (for two discrete periods 1991-2000 and 2001-2012 in total; and also individual year-on-year data).

Although there are limitations in the data, the analysis indicates that community proportions of appointments approximate the community proportions of applications for each period, though with the total Protestant proportion of appointments lower than applications.  There are however some important differences overall and in year-on-year trends.

Find out more:
 

 

Community composition of the NI workforce as a whole

Community composition of the Northern Ireland workforce as a whole (including the non-monitored workforce):
An analysis of Labour Force Survey data (Dec 2010)
The Commission wished to improve knowledge and understanding of the community composition of the Northern Ireland workforce as a whole, including those sections of the workforce not covered by the FETO monitoring regulations.

An analysis of the Labour Force Survey (2001-2008) suggested that the estimated Protestant and Roman Catholic shares of the monitored workforce were similar (allowing for sampling error) to their respective shares of the non-monitored workforce.  Further, the estimated community compositions of the two largest sub-groupings (‘the self-employed’ and ‘employers with 10 or less employees’) broadly mirror the pattern observed in the non-monitored as a whole with the two smaller groupings (the Clergy and Teachers) having estimated community compositions further from the figure for the non-monitored workforce as a whole.

Find out more:
 

 
 

Monitoring Northern Ireland's Workforce


This, the 34th Monitoring Report (pdf), presents an aggregated summary of the 3,774 valid monitoring returns received during 2023 from 104 public authorities and 3,670 private sector concerns.  These returns were mostly received between 1st January and 31st December 2023.

This year’s report shows the Roman Catholic community share of the monitored workforce was [50.5%] and the Protestant community share was [49.5%].
 

Find out more

A breakdown of data by sector is available upon request by emailing Simon Hookham at SHookham@equalityni.org
 


Previous Monitoring Reports


Monitoring Report No.33 (2022)


Monitoring Report No.32 (2021)


Monitoring Report No.31 (2020)


Monitoring Report No.30 (2019)



 
< NI Workforce - High Level Trends Over Time What is Fair Employment Monitoring? >

 

 
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