Northern Ireland: unemployment rate by urban area 1989

In the second half of the 20th century, unemployment rates in Northern Ireland were much higher than elsewhere in the United Kingdom. A large part of this was due to the violence of the Troubles, which dissuaded public investment, foreign investment, and tourism in Northern Ireland. In most Western countries during this period, there was a transition from employment in agriculture and manufacturing to service industries, but this lack of investment in Northern Ireland deprived its workforce of opportunities in these areas, which caused unemployment to grow in later decades. Today, Northern Ireland often has the lowest unemployment rate of any region in the UK; however, this may be misleading, as it generally has the highest rate of economically inactivity, which includes long-term unemployed persons.When looking at unemployment rates in the listed urban areas, majority-Catholic towns such as Strabane or Cookstown had much higher levels than majority-Protestant towns such as Ballymena or Craigavon. This was reflective of factors such as employment discrimination, uneven distribution of public investment by area, and Protestants having greater access to higher education.

在20世纪后半叶，北爱尔兰的失业率远高于英国其他地区。这一现象在很大程度上归因于‘动乱’时期的暴力事件，这些事件阻碍了公共投资、外国投资以及旅游业在北爱尔兰的发展。在此期间，大多数西方国家正经历从农业和制造业就业向服务业就业的转变，然而，北爱尔兰缺乏投资使得其劳动力在这些领域失去了机会，这在后来的几十年中导致了失业率的上升。如今，北爱尔兰通常拥有英国所有地区中最低的失业率；然而，这一现象可能具有误导性，因为其经济不活跃率通常最高，这其中包括长期失业人员。当审视所列城市地区的失业率时，以天主教徒为主的城镇，如斯特拉斯奈恩或库克斯顿，其失业水平远高于以新教徒为主的城镇，如贝利梅纳或克莱冈文。这反映了诸如就业歧视、公共投资区域分配不均以及新教徒拥有更多高等教育机会等因素。