§ 6. Mr. Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Employment by how much the working population has reduced in the last three years; and what are the latest estimates for the next five years.
§ Mr. AlisonBetween December 1978 and December 1981 the working population in Great Britain fell by just over half a million. My Department does not produce projections of the working population.
§ Mr. ChapmanIn view of that reply, and the fact that the number of retirement pensioners has increased by 360,000 in the past three years, does my right hon. Friend recognise that an increasing proportion of the population will depend upon fewer and fewer workers, irrespective of the current level of unemployment? Does he agree that that is a significant trend? Do the Government intend to take any initiatives to allay some of the financial and fiscal problems that will arise?
§ Mr. AlisonIt is indeed a worrying trend that the population of working age continues to expand, while the number of jobs available is not keeping pace. That is all the more reason why my hon. Friend should support, as I do, the policies in my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor's latest Budget to relieve industry of taxes and to increase incentives to set up new enterprises.
§ Mr. VarleyAs the Minister has confirmed that the number in employment has fallen by about 2 million in three years of Conservative Government, whereas in a comparable period under the Labour Government the 6 number of people in employment actually rose despite the rise in unemployment, does he agree that those statistics show the complete failure of Government policies in the past three years?
§ Mr. AlisonThey simply show that the right hon. Gentleman has failed to take lags into account.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerLags?
§ Mr. AlisonThe reason why jobs have disappeared recently is that under the Labour Government unit labour costs rose so catastrophically that jobs were destroyed.