1,000 more jobless 'every month'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7836437.stm

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Unemployment in Northern Ireland could rise by 1,000 every month in 2009, a Bank of Ireland economist has said.

The bank's head of economics and research said in a report published on Monday that the total out of work would increase from about 34,000 to 50,000.

"The jobless rate is expected to rise to around 6%," said Alan Bridle.

However, the report said that Northern Ireland should be better placed to ride out the global economic downturn than other countries.

"In 2009 the economy will contract by around 1%," he said.

"While such an outcome will effectively mean that as a region we are no better off than we were in late 2007, we should be better placed than either the UK overall or the Republic of Ireland where the downturn has been of greater magnitude."

Mr Bridle also said the local economy was experiencing its own "self-made property shock" which gave this downturn a "new dimension".

The report said the average house price was expected to fall to about £170,000.

"In many ways, a recovery in the housing market in terms of transaction activity rather than prices is a necessary condition to a broader-based pick-up in general confidence levels," he said.