AQW 17936/17-22 Written question to the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail the number of people employed by the meat and dairy industry, broken down by job type.
Asked by Claire Sugden MLA on 26 April 2021
- Answered
- Written
- After due date
- Tabled
- 26 April 2021
- Answer due by
- 12 May 2021
- Answered
- 13 May 202117 days after tabling
- Priority question
- No
Answer
In 2019, the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) estimated that there were 15,477 employee jobs in those sectors aligned to the meat and dairy industry. A profile of these employee jobs, by gender and working pattern, is detailed in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Employee jobs in meat and dairy industry
| Sector | Male | Female | Total | ||||
| Full-time | Part-time | Total | Full-time | Part-time | Total | ||
| Processing and preserving of meat | 3,111 | 66 | 3,177 | 768 | 33 | 801 | 3,978 |
| Processing and preserving of poultry meat | 2,547 | 115 | 2,662 | 1,649 | * | * | * |
| Production of meat and poultry meat products | 920 | 65 | 986 | 375 | * | * | * |
| Liquid milk and cream production | 411 | 6 | 417 | 46 | 12 | 58 | 475 |
| Butter and cheese production | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| Manufacture of other milk products | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| Manufacture of ice cream | 48 | 5 | 53 | 35 | 5 | 40 | 93 |
| Wholesale of live animals | 17 | 94 | 111 | 7 | 38 | 45 | 156 |
| Wholesale of meat and meat products | 790 | 46 | 836 | 379 | 59 | 438 | 1,274 |
| Wholesale of dairy products, eggs and edible oils and fats | 430 | 25 | 455 | 254 | 32 | 286 | 741 |
| Retail sale of meat and meat products in specialised stores | 897 | 241 | 1,138 | 238 | 327 | 565 | 1,703 |
| Total | 9,956 | 684 | 10,701 | 3,911 | 865 | 4,756 | 15,477 |
Data have been suppressed for disclosure purposes
In 2017, DAERA’s Migrant Labour and Trade Enquiry estimated that there were 24,328 employees employed in the food and drinks processing sector. A profile of the occupation of all employees in this sector is detailed in Table 2 below.
Table 2: Occupation profile of food and drinks processing sector
| Occupation | % of all employees |
| Managers, Directors and senior officials | 6.2% |
| Administrative and secretarial occupations | 9.6% |
| Elementary occupations (Unskilled, miscellaneous or other occupations) | 5.1% |
| Process, plant and machine operatives | 66.5% |
| Sales and customer service occupations | 4.3% |
| Caring, Leisure and other service occupations | 0.5% |
| Skilled trades occupations | 4.1% |
| Associate professional and technical occupations | 3.1% |
| Professional occupations | 0.7% |
| Total | 100% |