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The unemployment rate in Northern Ireland fell back to its pre-pandemic level at the start of this year, official figures suggest.

The rate in the period December-February was 2.5%, a significant fall of 1 percentage point over the year and 0.6 percentage points over the quarter.

It is just slightly above the all-time low of 2.3% recorded in 2019.

Other figures also suggest that the jobs market continued to recover in the first quarter of 2022.

HMRC figures suggest 775,000 people were on company payrolls in March, a 0.1% increase on February and 4.8% higher than March 2021.

That is the 10th consecutive month that employee numbers have been above pre-Covid levels.

All regions of the UK saw payrolls increase over the year to March 2022, with London recording the largest increase (7%) and the Scotland recording the smallest (4.1%).

Northern Ireland recorded a similar increase to the UK average (4.8% and 4.9% respectively).

On a longer timeframe from March 2020 to March 2022, all regions of the UK also recorded an average 2% increase in payrolled employees. Northern Ireland recorded the largest increase (3%).

However, the recovery is not complete. Total hours worked, self-employment and the overall employment rate are still below pre-pandemic levels in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) said: "Employee indicators remain positive with the number of payrolled employees and level of payroll earnings above the pre-pandemic level, while the latest unemployment rate marks a return to the pre-pandemic rate.

"Employment levels (which includes self-employment) and total hours worked have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels and similarly claimant count and economic inactivity both remain above."