World of Work in Northern Ireland

Post War Years

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1945 - 1955

The impact of the war on the Northern Ireland economy and labour market was significant.

During the 1939- 1945 conflict people had jobs that related to the needs of a wartime economy and consequently the number of people at work increased, greatly reducing the pre-war level of unemployment.

Even in the aftermath of 1945, fears of a sharp downturn in the economy proved misplaced.

The main drivers of the economy, in engineering and shipbuilding, textiles and clothing, farming and food processing, performed quite strongly.

By 1955, however, with the population of Northern Ireland at just over 1.4 million and the number of people in jobs at over 466,000 - unemployment, was higher than in any other UK region.

Averaging over 8% of the potential employees, it was a serious concern.

It was this continuing and persistent high level of unemployment which weighed on the local economy over the following 40 years.

Only in the 1990’s and later, was the unfavourable contrast with other UK regions eliminated.

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