By James Kerr BBC Northern Ireland business editor

It is hard to know exactly what is going on in the local jobs market.

One day there is news of redundancies, the next day another company announces it has plans to expand.

But the apparent contradiction is probably exactly that - more apparent than real.

There is little doubt there are local firms with real problems, both in technology-based sectors and in more traditional industries.

The bursting of the internet bubble may have punctured the prospects of the telecommunications companies that fed off it

One reason the former have hit the headlines, is their size and the sheer number of job losses.

Between them Shorts and Nortel have shed more than 2,000 positions. Up to another 1,000 jobs have gone at suppliers and sub-contractors.

Many sectors

While those job losses have been a blow at some of the region's biggest and most successful companies, what is encouraging is that the ripples of recession do not seem to have spread.

The bursting of the internet bubble may have punctured the prospects of the telecommunications companies that fed off it and the attacks on 11 September may have hit aerospace.

But many sectors have escaped the worst of the downturn, even if things have been tight for a number of months.

The resilience of the labour market has highlighted a growing shortage of labour

Now the economic analysts are suggesting that we are beginning to see the green shoots of recovery. Even at Nortel they expect to return to profit by the end of the year.

While the adoption of new technologies may be happening slower than was expected two years ago, no one has turned the clock back.

Technology continues to play an increasing part in our lives and in the way business is done.

So companies like Lagan Technologies see good demand for its leading-edge software and is confident enough to predict increasing its workforce by more than 100% over the next two years.

'Robust economy'

The resilience of the labour market has highlighted another problem: a growing shortage of labour in some parts of Northern Ireland.

Desmonds has reported difficulties in recruiting for its Dungannon plant in County Tyrone, while a number of food companies in the mid-Ulster area have employed Portuguese labour to fill gaps.

It is a classic sign of near-full employment: employers at the lower end of the pay scale struggling to fill jobs.

While it causes local difficulties, it is a sign of a more robust economy.

However, we do not need to be complacent: there are plenty of economic challenges out there to keep our feet on the ground.