§ 11. Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will estimate the number of jobs lost in each of the last five years as a result of the introduction of automotive and mechanically-controlled machines.
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkI regret that this information does not exist.
§ Mr. MeacherIs the Minister aware that Government sources indicate that in the last five to seven years about 2 million jobs have disappeared largely because of new capital technology? If we are ever to return again to full employment, is it not quite clear that we will need a massive planned expansion of non-productive services on a scale far beyond anything that the Government have so far envisaged?
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkI do not know from where the hon. Gentleman gets his figures. We know that he nearly always has figures which nobody can find anywhere else.
§ Sir R. ThompsonIs my hon. Friend aware that recent studies in the United States have indicated that by the turn of the century all the work necessary to be done in the North American continent can be performed by 2 per cent. of the population? If those studies are even half correct, the social consequences for other advanced industrial nations are very severe. Can my hon. Friend say whether any long-term research is being 1082 carried out by his Department into this problem?
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkI can tell my hon. Friend that records are available. They were started on 1st June 1972 because of the interest in redundancies due to technological change. The records suggest that jobs lost by way of technological change come very low on the list.