HC Deb 07 November 1972 vol 845 cc796-7
2. Mr. Meacher

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons at the present time have been unemployed for more than a year.

Mr. Dudley Smith

At 9th October, 177,616 people had been registered as unemployed for more than a year.

Mr. Meacher

Is not the hon. Gentleman ashamed? Does not that mean that the number of long-term unemployed, further penalised by the deprivation of all unemployment benefit, has increased substantially since the last General Election? Is not the hon. Gentleman aware that very nearly half the unemployed are now getting no unemployment benefit at all? What arrangement is the hon. Gentleman making with his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services to try to stop this injustice when unemployment rises again next winter?

Mr. Smith

The question of benefit is a separate one. The number of unemployed for over 52 weeks has been rising since 1967. The proportion for many years has been about one-sixth of the total register. The proportion is usually higher when the register is falling than when it is rising. But we are not complacent about it. We are well aware that there are difficulties in long-term unemployment. Age and disability are relevant factors.

Sir R. Cary

Is my hon. Friend aware that owing to the closing of many businesses along the Lancashire-Cheshire border, especially in Trafford Park in 1968, some people have been unemployed for the last four years?

Mr. Smith

Yes. I am prepared to accept what my hon. Friend says. No one pretends that this is anything but a difficult problem. There are no easy or immediate solutions. However, we take comfort from the fact that since March the unemployment rate in the country as a whole has fallen steadily from 3.9 per cent. to 3.4 per cent.