The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Northern Ireland feel to just over 5 per cent, the lowest rate on record in the first quarter of the year.
The Labour Force Survey estimated that 41,000 or 5.1 per cent of the North's workforce was unemployed, down 0.9 per cent compared with the same period the previous year.
Some 754,000 persons were employed in the January to March 2003 period, which is one of the highest estimates on record.
"Falling unemployment plus high employment levels are encouraging signs that the Northern Ireland economy is performing robustly in the face of uncertainty," said Mr Ian Pearson, the Northern Ireland Office Minister with responsibility for Enterprise, Trade and Investment,
"It is also notable that there are 43,000 more people in the labour market as a whole compared with last year, indicating increasing levels of participation across the economy. A key element of current government policy is to encourage those on welfare programmes to move into the labour market and these increases in employment provide further opportunities for this to happen," he added.
PA