Labour Statistics (Hansard, 21 July 1987)

§ 3. Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the recent labour market statistics.

§ Mr. Fowler
In the last year there has been the biggest fall in unemployment since records were first kept. The seasonally-adjusted figures have fallen by almost 300,000 and unemployment is now below 3 million.
As well as the fall in unemployment there has been a growth of over 250,000 jobs between March 1986 and March 1987. Vacancies are up by 27 per cent. on a year ago, and productivity growth is at its highest for over three years.
Unemployment, then, is falling without a return to the overmanning of the past.

§ Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
Has my right hon. Friend noticed that that vastly improving employment picture is being greeted with mounting dismay on the Opposition Benches? It is as though the Opposition had a vested interest in bad news. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that unemployment among the under-25s is now lower in this country than in any other Common Market country, and will he call upon Opposition Members to welcome that?

§ Mr. Fowler
My hon. Friend's initial point is correct. As for the unemployment rate among the under-25s, the latest European Community average—for 1986—is 23 per cent. The United Kingdom rate at that time was 18 per cent. That must be compared with a rate of 34 per cent. in Italy, and 23 per cent. in France. In the past 12 months, unemployment among the under-25s has decreased further to 16 per cent.

§ Mr. Cryer
Will the Secretary of State tell us when the unemployment level will reach the figure for 1979? In this much-vaunted increase in jobs, how many are low-paid service sector jobs, and how many are in manufacturing? Is it not true that under the Tory regime our country has lost 2 million jobs in the manufacturing industry, and that the Prime Minister has destroyed more factories in our country than Hitler managed to between 1939 and 1945?

§ Mr. Fowler
Typically, the hon. Gentleman is wrong in virtually everything that he has said. Service jobs in this country are certainly increasing, and those jobs are real and important. As the hon. Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Meacher) sought to say a moment ago, that should surely be welcomed by every hon. Member, and I ask the hon. Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Cryer) to do that.

§ Mr. William Powell
Is my right hon. Friend aware that when I was first returned by the electors of Corby four years ago unemployment in that constituency stood at 8,000? Last week's unemployment figures showed that it was down to 3,900. Is that not the biggest fall in unemployment anywhere in the country, and is it not mainly the result of Government policies?

§ Mr. Fowler
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The crucial point is that the strength of the economy has meant unemployment coming down throughout the country. It is coming down, not just in my hon. Friend's area, but in all other regions. Some of the biggest falls have been in such areas as Wales, the west midlands and the north-west. It is about time that the Opposition welcomed that trend.

§ Mr. Strang
Is it a matter of concern to the Secretary of State that the distribution of job opportunities in the different regions is so unequal? For example, whereas in the south-east there are eight unemployed people for every vacancy, in Yorkshire and Humberside there are 17. Is the Government's attitude to that distribution one of laissez-faire, or do they seek to change the position?

§ Mr. Fowler
If the hon. Gentleman had been listening, he would have heard me say to my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Mr. Powell) that there has been a real fall in unemployment in all regions of the United Kingdom in the last month—indeed, over the past year—and that some of the biggest falls have been in areas such as Wales, the west midlands and the north-west: in other words, in the regions where unemployment had previously been the highest. In addition, we have found that long-term unemployment has fallen by some 61,000 in the last year. That is the largest 12-month fall since records began. Moreover, unemployment has fallen faster in the past year than in any other industrialised country. I should have thought that the hon. Gentleman would welcome that.