People & Affordability

Affordability

Mid and East Antrim benefits from some of the lowest operating costs in the UK, for example:

• Average weekly wage is £485, one of the lowest rates in the UK
• Operating costs average 20%-30% less than the rest of the UK and Europe.

“Every time we open our doors to work every day in Northern Ireland we save half a million dollars, and that is something that we don’t take lightly”. Suren Gupta, Executive Vice President – Technology and Operations, Allstate

The overall tax burden in Northern Ireland is the lowest of all the major European economies with:

• Low personal taxation
• Low social welfare contributions
• Generous tax allowances
• No local taxes on profits or surplus

Investors benefit from a myriad of tax incentives to encourage further development, including:

• Corporation tax (19 per cent) is among the lowest in Europe
• Businesses with fewer than 250 employees can claim a tax deduction of 150 per cent on R&D expenditure.

Double NI Productivity per Employee

In 2019, Mid and East Antrim’s employment rate (16-64) was 74.2%. This was equivalent to 62,000 people employed, 2.3% higher than the Northern Ireland average (71.9%).

We have a highly productive workforce, with work based productivity (GVA) well above the NI average (£71,490 per head vs. £53,304 per head).

Population

Mid and East Antrim has a total population of 139,400 and a young working age population with an average age of 41.

Education