Northern Ireland’s labour market received a boost yesterday with news that unemployment levels dropped in recent months, while the numbers of those working has hit a record high.

According to figures released by Economy Minister Arlene Foster, output from Northern Ireland's production and service sectors has dropped slightly in the first quarter of 2008, but overall has gone up over the past year.

The Northern Ireland unemployment rate was 4.1% for the period March to May 2008.

This represents a slight decrease from the rate of 4.3% recorded last quarter and is marginally lower than the rate of 4.2% recorded a year ago.

The latest Northern Ireland rate compares to the UK average rate of 5.2% and is considerably lower than the EU rate of 6.7% for April 2008.

Seasonally adjusted figures for the same period estimate there were 798,000 people in employment in Northern Ireland — the highest figure on record. The new figures represent an estimated increase of 1.2% in employment levels over the quarter and a rise of 0.6% over the year.

Mrs Foster said the figures show that the overall local labour market is “performing positively, despite current economic conditions”.