However, unemployment reached 3 million, or 12.5% of the workforce, by January 1982, a level that had not been seen for some 50 years. The unemployment rate would remain similarly high for a number of years afterwards. Northern Ireland was the hardest-hit region, with unemployment standing at nearly 20%. The rate exceeded 15% in much of Scotland and Northern England. By April 1983, Britain, once known globally as the "workshop of the world" became a net importer of goods for the first time in modern times. Areas of Tyneside, Yorkshire, Merseyside, South Wales, Western Scotland and the West Midlands were particularly hard hit by the loss of industry and subsequent sharp rise in unemployment. Only in Southeast England did unemployment remain below 10%.