Vacancies

HC Deb 27 February 1973 vol 851 cc1267-8

10. Mr. David Mitchell

asked the Secretary of State for the latest estimate proportion of job his Department.

Mr. Dudley Smith

Accurate information about total job vacancies is not available. The best estimate is that about 25 per cent. of total annual job changes are being notified to my Department's employment services.

Mr. Mitchell

Does not that suggest that there are more than 800,000 jobs now available nationally and that in the South-East alone there are 400,000 vacancies for 139,000 unemployed people? Will my hon. Friend comment on that and on the growing number of acute shortages in a number of trades, especially certain skills? Does not that suggest that there is need now for greater priority to be given to retraining than to general Government measures to reduce the level of unemployment?

Mr. Smith

There is a great need for retraining. We have recognised this and tried to supplement it. There are big regional imbalances of labour shortage. It is a problem that we have always recognised and tried to tackle. It is a question of matching, and I hope and believe that the modernisation of the employment service now being undertaken will result in a better supply of vacancies coming through as a result of more sophisticated matching. Again these matters are not achieved overnight, but progress is being made.

Mr. Thomas Cox

Surely the problem of attendance at retraining centres on the rates of pay being paid to those undergoing retraining, quite apart from the cost of travelling to training centres, is a great deterrent. When will the hon. Gentleman look at these two specific problems?

Mr. Smith

We look continually at the costs involved. I remind the hon. Gentleman that those who are training receive about £5 over and above unemployment benefit. I am glad that there has been a resurgence of applicants for training throughout the country. One of the big difficulties spotlighted by this Question is that there are often a large number of vacancies in some parts of the country but considerable unemployment in other parts and it is difficult to match the two. We are doing what we can about it.

Sir P. Bryan

Will my hon. Friend comment on the demand for retraining? Is it increasing? Are there long waiting lists?

Mr. Smith

There is a considerable demand and, as my hon. Friend will recall from his days at the Department, there are quite long waiting lists. Again this is a matter that we are trying to iron out so that people's enthusiasm is not diminished and that they can get to a training centre within a reasonable period of time.

Mr. William Hannan

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that some of us take his point about the regional imbalances? Is not the answer that whereas in the North, especially in Glasgow, there are 10 boys running after one job, in London and the South-East there are two jobs for every unemployed boy? What does he intend to do about it?

Mr. Smith

The hon. Gentleman is right to say that there is this disparity. The Government have done a tremendous amount by their regional policies and their introduction of extra industry in these difficult areas. Considerable progress has been made but it takes time, as we said when we came to office and we faced a high and rising rate of unemployment. We are tackling this, and the unemployment figures generally are coming down substantially.