EMPLOYMENT SECTORS IN NORTHERN IRELAND: CENSUS 2011
Dec 11th, 2012 by Conor McCabe
Some really interesting data coming out of the 2011 NI census. This is a map of the percentage of employment in finance and insurance. Not surprisingly, the greater Belfast area dominates. If NI gets to set its own corporation tax rate, it’s not that wild of an assumption to make to say that the main beneficiaries are going to be those in finance, law and insurance in Belfast.
And here’s the Trojan horse for the corporation tax argument. Northern Ireland, along with the UK and the rest of the advanced capitalist economies, has been doing through a sustained 35-yr period of deindustrialisation and financialisation. The devolving of corporation tax to the assembly will see investment - such as it is - shift from these areas to the leafy suburbs of Belfast’s professional classes.
Finally, the rotten scum of financialisation - the bottom-feeders themselves. Real estate. And again, mainly the two cities, and heavily concentrated around Belfast
