HC Deb 27 March 1973 vol 853 cc271-3W
37. Mr. Gwynoro Jones

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many new jobs have been created in Wales to date in 1973; and how many people have been made redundant.

Mr. Dudley Smith

I regret that the figure for jobs created is not available. Redundancies involving 555 workpeople have been recorded as due to occur in Wales in the period ended 28th February 1973.

Mr. Cledwyn Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the percentage figures of male unemployment in each of the Welsh counties at the latest convenient date.

Mr. Dudley Smith

The following table shows provisional percentage rates of unemployment for 12th March 1973.

Anglesey 9.0
Brecknockshire 4.4
Caernarvonshire 7.2
Cardiganshire 5.4
Carmarthenshire 2.9
Denbighshire 4.6
Flintshire 4.2
Glamorganshire 4.2
Merionethshire 7.6
Monmouthshire 4.0
Montgomeryshire 3.0
Pembrokeshire 4.8
Radnorshire 3.6

Mr. Alan Williams

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many manufacturing redundancies, male and female, respectively, have been declared in Wales in each year since 1960.

Mr. Dudley Smith

The information is not available in the form requested, but the total numbers of redundancies recorded by my Department as notified in manufacturing industry in Wales in the years 1961 to 1972 are as follows:

Year Number
1961 8,300
1962 10,000
1963 4,600
1964 6,700
1965 7,800
1966 9,500
1967 7,500
1968 4,000
1969 4,400
1970 8,300
1971 18,300
1972 7,100

Mr. Alan Williams

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many jobs are in prospect in Wales at the latest available date; and how this figure compares with the number at the same date in each year since 1960.

Mr. Anthony Grant

I have been asked to reply.

Estimates are available only to mid-1972, after which industrial development certificates which provided for basis for them were no longer required in development and special development areas. Figures for Wales for the years 1960 to 1972 are given below.

'000s
1960 31
1961 28
1962 19
1963 14
1964 11
1965 14
1966 20
1967 22
1968 20
1969 28
1970 31
1971 25
1972 16

N.B. These figures do not include jobs in the service sector nor do they take account of expansion by existing industrial undertakings.

Mr. Alan Williams

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many extra male jobs would exist in Wales, and how many extra female jobs, if male and female activity rates in Wales were at the level of the region with the highest male and the highest female activity rates, respectively.

Mr. Dudley Smith

If the overall male and female activity rates in Wales were at the same level as those in the regions with the highest activity rates as shown by provisional results from the 1971 Census of Population, the labour force in Wales would have included about 60,000 more males and about 100,000 more females. Part of the explanation for the lower activity rates in Wales is the higher than average percentages of the population above the normal working ages.

Mr. Elystan Morgan

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish the total of males employed in Wales in each year from 1962 to 1972, inclusive.

Mr. Dudley Smith

The following table shows estimates of the number of male employees in employment in Wales for June of each year:

1962 668,000
1963 669,000
1964(a) 672,000
1964(b) 673,000
1965 670,000
1966 664,000
1967 640,000
1968 629,000
1969(a) 618,000
1969(b) 620,000
1970 608,000
1971 603,000
1972 592,000

All the estimates are based on counts of national insurance cards. Those from June 1964(b) are on a revised basis of calculation and are not strictly comparable with those for June 1964(a) and earlier dates. The estimates from June 1969(b) include improved information about the location of employees in the distributive trades.