§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people under the age of 25 years have taken up farming as a career in each of the last 10 years; and what estimate he has made of the figure in the current year. [58136]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 4 November 1998]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. David Maclean, dated 5 November 1998:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on young people taking up farming as a career.688WThe precise information requested is not available. However, the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is the ONS's major up to date source of occupational data, can provide estimates of those employed in farming occupations who were not employed in such occupations a year earlier. The attached table shows estimates from the spring LFS back to 1988. The vast majority of those covered are classified as agricultural workers rather than farmers according to the Socio-Economic classification of their stated occupation. These figures may include some full-time students and others not intending taking up farming as a career.As with any sample survey LFS estimates are subject to sampling variability. The sampling variability (expressed as the range within which 95% of estimates taken from different samples would be expected to fall) of these estimates is roughly +/-20%.
People aged 16–24 employed in farming who were not soone year previously, Spring 1997-Spring 1998,not seasonally adjusted, United Kingdom Thousand Spring 1988 40 Spring 1989 34 Spring 1990 32 Spring 1991 30 Spring 1992 27 Spring 1993 28 Spring 1994 28 Spring 1995 25 Spring 1996 23 Spring 1997 19 Spring 1998 21 Source:
ONS, Labour Force Survey