HC Deb 12 April 1967 vol 744 cc211-3W
Mr. Barnett

asked the Minister of Labour how many workers in the cotton textile and man-made fibre industry are registered as unemployed; what is the number of known vacancies; and what were the comparable figures in each of the past six months.

Mr. Fernyhough

Following is the information for Great Britain for the spinning and doubling of cotton, flax and man-made fibres and the weaving of cotton, linen and man-made fibres (Minimum List Headings 412 and 413 of the Standard Industrial Classification). This

Heywood Royton Littleborough
Unemployed Vacancies Unemployed Vacancies Unemployed Vacancies
March, 1967 346 37 185 7 26 14
February, 1967 64 34 209 12 49 8
January, 1967 44 47 43 33 132 9
December, 1966 38 45 65 16 14 22
November, 1966 30 64 27 32 6 26
October, 1966 38 77 24 36 8 47
September, 1966 16 97 5 36 5 40

The numbers registered as unemployed who last worked in these industries have been expressed as percentages of the total estimated numbers of employees for Hey-wood and Littleborough. As Royton and Shaw form a "travel to work" area, percentages can be calculated for the area as a whole but not separately for its constituent parts. The Percentages were:

shows the total numbers registered as unemployed who last worked in these industries and the numbers of notified vacancies remaining unfilled:

Unemployed Vacancies
March, 1967 9,315 1,565
February, 1967 9,198 1,387
January, 1967 7,045 1,807
December, 1966 6,044 1,833
November, 1966 4,883 2,283
October, 1966 2,892 3,070
September, 1966 3,522 3,533

Mr. Barnett

asked the Minister of Labour how many workers in the cotton textile and man-made fibre industry are registered as unemployed; what is the number of known vacancies in Heywood, Royton, Crompton, Milnrow, Wardle, Littleborough and Whitworth; what were the comparable figures in each of the past six months; and what percentage of the total labour force in each of these towns these figures represent.

Mr. Fernyhough

Information is available for Heywood, Royton and Little-borough, each of which has its own Employment Exchange, but not for Crompton, Milnrow, Wardle and Whitworth which form only parts of Employment Exchange areas. Following is the information for the spinning and doubling of cotton, flax and man-made fibres and the weaving of cotton, linen and manmade fibres (Minimum List Headings 412 and 413 of the Standard Industrial Classification), showing the total numbers registered as unemployed who last worked in these industries and the numbers of notified vacancies remaining unfilled:

Heywood Royton and Shaw Little-borough
March, 1967 3.06 2.78 0.46
February, 1967 0.57 2.52 0.86
January, 1967 0.39 2.08 2.33
December, 1966 0.34 1.63 0.25
November, 1966 0.27 0.41 0.01
October, 1966 0.34 0.27 0.01
September, 1966 0.14 0.05 0.01