A report has revealed that over 130,000 jobs are needed over the next 10 years to meet the needs of a growing population in Northern Ireland.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers' report published on Friday says knowledge industries are the way of the future.

Stephen Kinghan of PricewaterhouseCoopers said the performance of the Northern Ireland economy over the last decade had been remarkable, given the problems it faced.

But he said the politicians should not waste any more time to carry out work and make decisions that have been by Northern Ireland's political instability.

He said: "To create 89,000 net new jobs and outperform most of the UK headline statistics is a remarkable tribute to the resilience of Northern Ireland business.

"With the ceasefires in place for less than half the decade and a quarter of the world's economies in recession for nearly two years, the performance since 1989 positions Northern Ireland for the next phase of growth."

'Peaceful environment needed'

However, he said that the challenges facing Northern Ireland over the next decade were daunting.

"We are witnessing the emergence of a twin-speed economy.

"Traditional industries are undergoing structural change, while the new knowledge sectors struggle to reach critical mass in the face of a growing skills crisis and even greater global competition.

"These problems can be overcome, but only in a stable and peaceful economic environment, characterised by responsible government and a willingness to explore radical options in pursuit of growth.

"I don't think we should waste any more time. You could wait until you've analysed the thing to death. The world isn't stopping."

Junior assembly minister Dermot Nesbitt of the UUP said that the assembly was moving to set up a strategy to move forward.

'Assembly is planning action'

The former economic development department has spent years drawing up Strategy 2010. However, Mr Nesbitt said that more planning needed to be done.

And he added that the assembly's hands were tied until a new budget starting in the next financial year, April 2001, was released.

"We have a programme for government to devise for the financial year starting 2001 and that is what we are doing.

"We have a budget that is running now through to April 2001.

'We are working together'

"What we are about is planning is a strategy to harness not only the assembly parties, but also Denis Haughey and I will be looking at it in the office of the first and deputy first minister.

"We will be working with finance minister Mark Durkan and we will be bringing it through to the executive in a structured way," he said.

He added that it would take time for Northern Ireland's politicians to start addressing issues which were not "constitutional".

"There is much needed to be done and we in the political field are now embarking on doing that and we have to build this into the structures of the discussive process and get on with it, but we can't get on within from a pure financial point of view in terms of programme for government until next year."

The review also said that while Northern Ireland's working age population is expected to increase by 67,000 over the next decade, the percentage of the working-age population in employment is still the lowest in the UK.

If the local economy is to lessen its dependence on the public sector, Northern Ireland will have to get more people into employment and move into line with UK levels, it added.

The report follows a recent survey which said that Northern Ireland is the fourth highest region for unemployment in the UK.

The statistics, compiled by the Northern Ireland Labour Force, said that 51,000 people in the province were unemployed during the first quarter of this year.

According to the NILF, 38.4% of the unemployed had been out of work for one year or more, whilst there has been an increase of 2,000 people aged between 18-24 who were out of work.