§ Mr. KempTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people were in work in the Northern Region in(a) May 1999 and (b) May 1997. [90279]
§ Ms HewittThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from John Kidgell to Mr. Fraser Kemp, dated 13 July 1999:
In the absence of the Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on employment in the Northern region.The most up-to-date estimates of employment are published using the Government Office Region geography. The latest Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimate of the number of employed people living in the North East is 1,050,000 for the period February to April 1999 on a seasonally adjusted basis. The comparable estimate for the same period in 1997 was 1,071,000.Employment estimates based on the old Standard Statistical Region (SSR) geography are still available from the LFS on a non-seasonally adjusted basis for certain quarters. The latest estimate of the number of employed people living in the Northern SSR is 1,282,000 (December 1998 to February 1999) compared with 1,292,000 for the corresponding quarter two years earlier.