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The logos of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Queen's University Belfast, Stranmillis College, St Mary's College, Ulster University and teh Open University. These institutions are the contributing members of the Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series.
Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series
The logos of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Queen's University Belfast, Stranmillis College, St Mary's College, Ulster University and teh Open University. These institutions are the contributing members of the Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series.
Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series

Understanding “good jobs” employees and employers in Northern Ireland using linked administrative and survey data

Dr Finola Ferry, Dr Laura Gallagher & Prof Jamie Murphy, Administrative Data Research Centre NI (ADRC NI), School of Psychology, Ulster University.

Increasing the percentage of the Northern Ireland population in “good jobs” is a policy priority identified in the Northern Ireland Executive Programme for Government (PfG) 2024-27 and is one of four key objectives in the Department for the Economy’s (DfE) Economic Vision. In consultation with the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), the DfE defined a “good job” as one with a permanent contract, which is non-zero hours and delivers the Real Living Wage. This presentation harnesses available administrative data – a valuable linked data resource – to share preliminary findings on people working in “good jobs” in Northern Ireland and businesses providing those jobs, drawing on academic research that included engagement with the DfE and other stakeholders.  Such findings provide informative insights for Assembly deliberations on the forthcoming Good Jobs Employment Bill, which aims to improve job quality and workers’ rights in Northern Ireland. They also importantly highlight how administrative data analysis can inform the development and the targeted delivery of the forthcoming bills, including the “Good Jobs” Employment Rights Bill, specifically its proposals relating to pay and terms of employment.  

The presentation explains how analysis of linked survey and administrative data, using NISRA’s new Northern Ireland Business Data for Research (BDR) 2022 themed dataset, offers enormous potential to enhance Assembly understanding in this area. This dataset comprised several individually valuable datasets, including annual data from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) and the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) from 2014 to 2022, provides unprecedented insight into a wide range of individual and business level characteristics of the Northern Ireland’s “good jobs” landscape.

It sets out findings on:

  • The types of people in “good jobs” generally and “good jobs” in priority sectors, across key socio-demographic and work-related characteristics
  • The profile of “good jobs” in relation to business-level characteristics, such as industry, size/number of employees, gender composition, location and working pattern composition
  • The business level characteristics associated with each “good jobs” indicator
  • How job quality has been studied internationally using administrative data

It also signposts follow-on academic study that will provide evidence on individual transitions in and out of “good jobs”, including their determinants and barriers, as well as individual pathways to “good jobs” in terms of education and training.

This research project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (funder reference UKRI3102).

Date of Seminar: 3 June 2026
Policy Briefing
Presentation
Video will be forthcoming