Editing Belfast (section)

=== Employment profile ===
Services (including retail, health, professional & scientific) account for three quarters of jobs in the Belfast. Only 6% remain in manufacturing. The balance is in distribution and construction.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/BRES-2021-Publication_1.pdf |title=Business Register and Employment Survey 2021 |publisher=Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency |year=2021 }}</ref> In recent years, unemployment has been comparatively low (under 3% in the summer of 2023) for the UK. On the other hand, Belfast has a high rate of people economically inactive (close to 30%).<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 September 2023 |title=Labour market statistics |url=https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/news/labour-market-statistics-56 |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=Economy |archive-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213203340/https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/news/labour-market-statistics-56 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is a group, encompassing homemakers, full-time carers, students and retirees,<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Duncan |first1=Pamela |last2=Sheehy |first2=Finbarr |last3=Scruton |first3=Paul |last4=Cutler |first4=Sam |date=2 May 2021 |title=Life in Northern Ireland v the rest of the UK: what does the data say? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/02/life-in-northern-ireland-v-the-rest-of-the-uk-what-does-the-data-say |access-date=13 February 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077 }}</ref> that in Belfast has been swollen by the exceptionally large proportion of the population (27%) with [[Disability in Northern Ireland|long-term health problems or disabilities]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/census-2021-main-statistics-for-northern-ireland-phase-2-statistical-bulletin-health-disability-and-unpaid-care.pdf |title=Census 2021: Main statistics for Northern Ireland Statistical bulletin, Health, disability and unpaid care |date=15 December 2022 |publisher=Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency |pages=21 }}</ref> (and who, in Northern Ireland generally, are less likely to be employed than in other UK regions).<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=https://www.ulster.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1275811/Disability-and-the-labour-market.pdf |title=Maximising potential: A review of labour market outcomes for people with disabilities in Northern Ireland |publisher=Ulster University Economic Policy Centre |year=2023 |pages=18 |archive-date=13 February 2024 |access-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213203339/https://www.ulster.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1275811/Disability-and-the-labour-market.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

An early report on the post-Belfast Agreement prospects for the city economy underscored another distinctive feature of its working-age population. While it appeared well qualified, with 24 per cent educated to degree level, at "the other end of the educational spectrum", 26 per cent had no qualifications at all, a much higher share than in English cities.<ref name=":26" />{{rp|251}}