The Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (Nisra)'s Index of Services shows a robust rebound from a sector that makes up over half of the GDP.

Separate reports, however, indicate that the retail and industrial sectors are still falling short of pre-pandemic levels.

Output in the services sector had climbed by 0.4% during the second quarter of 2024, and 3.8% for the year.

This resulted in a record high production for the industry, which encompasses everything from restaurants to real estate brokers.

By the end of 2019, it is also 10.6% higher than pre-pandemic output levels.

The second quarter saw a record high for UK service sector production, which increased by 0.8% in the quarter and 1.4% year over year. However, it’s just 5% over pre-pandemic levels.

According to Nisra, retail output increased by 0.6% year over year but decreased by 0.6% in the second quarter of this year.

Retail output at the end of 2019 was 2.4% lower in Great Britain than it was in Northern Ireland, where it was 4% below pre-pandemic levels.

Manufacturing is included in the production sector, which had a decline in output in the second quarter of 2024 of 0.1% and 3.5% for the entire year.

Production sector production was 0.9% below pre-pandemic levels.

Finance and business services made up the largest portion of the services sector's annual and quarterly growth.

The production of lodging and foodservice decreased by 0.1% during the quarter but increased by 3.3% annually.

All four sectors contributed to the decline in NI production output throughout the course of the year.

The industrial output fell by 3.7%, the provision of gas, electricity, steam and air conditioning fell by 3.2%, the water supply, sewage and waste management fell by 5.4%, and the mining and quarrying industry saw a sharp decline of 25%.