§ Mr. Kilfedderasked the Secretary of State for Employment what projections he has made of the size of the working
32Wand if he will give figures on a regional as well as a national basis.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithFollowing is the information:
population in the 1970's; and whether the figures include or exclude persons over school-leaving age who are expected to be in full-time attendance at school, college or university.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithWorking population projections are made and published periodically by my Department. The most recently published estimates appeared in the March, 1969, issue of theEmployment and Productivity Gazette. These indicated that the working population of the United Kingdom was likely to decrease by about 200,000 between 1971 and 1974 (mainly because of the raising of the minimum school-leaving age in 1973) and thereafter to increase by about 1,000,000 between 1974 and 1981.
These projections are subject to the assumption of a constant pressure of demand for labour. They included estimates of the numbers of full-time students above the minimum school-leaving age who may be employed in vacation or other spare time jobs. A new set of working population projections will be published within the next few months.