NI health: Growth in employment driven by overseas workers

People from outside the UK or EU accounted for all the growth in healthcare workers in Northern Ireland last year, official data suggests.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has published new figures which look at the composition of payroll changes in the UK.

The number of payrolled workers in Northern Ireland increased by 12,900 between December 2022 and December 2023.

That increase consisted of 4,800 UK workers and 9,200 workers from outside of the UK or EU.

The number of EU workers fell by 1,100 over the year.

The total number of payrolled workers in December 2023 was 846,600, of which the vast majority, 756,000, were UK nationals.

EU workers were 54,400 and non-UK or EU were 36,100.

The health service has traditionally been the sector most reliant on international workers and that trend continued in 2023.

The number of health workers increased by 2,900 from 143,700 to 146,600.

All of that growth was down to more workers from outside the UK or EU, rising from 8,300 to over 11,000.

This is consistent with other data, which has shown a post-Brexit change in immigration patterns to Northern Ireland.

UK law now makes it harder for non-Irish EU nationals to move to Northern Ireland for low-paid work.

However, liberalisation of the visa system for high-skilled and medical workers is attracting more workers from India and other Asian countries.