§ Mr. David Steelasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will now make a statement on the unemployment and short-time working situation in the Borders area in Scotland.
§ Mr. John FraserUnemployment continues to be at a low level in the Borders planning region relative to both Scotland
November 1964 November 1965 November 1966 November 1967 November 1968 November 1969 Number of unfilled vacancies Great Britain 319,093 355,492 253,070 227,740 266,166 255,672 Percentage of vacancies in each area Scotland 5.1 5.5 6.8 6.3 6.6 6.6 Wales 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.0 2.8 3.2 South East 47.0 45.0 41.1 42.7 41.5 42.3 East Anglia 2.2 2.8 2.7 2.7 SouthWest 5.4 4.8 4.7 5.9 5.2 6.2 West Midlands 27.2 11.7 10.0 8.6 9.1 8.6 East Midlands 6.6 7.1 7.0 6.9 6.5 Yorkshire and Humberside 8.8 9.4 8.3 8.5 8.5 NorthWest 10.0 11.3 12.3 11 .7 13.0 11.5 North 2.4 3.3 3.4 3.7 3.7 3.9 120W
November 1974* November 1970 November 1971 November 1972 November 1973 Notified to Employment Offices Notified to Careers Offices Number of unfilled vacancies Great Britain 225,675 148,856 220,141 477,468 270,873 65,843 Percentage of vacancies in each area Scotland 5.5 4.9 4.9 5.6 8.1 8.5 Wales 3.5 3.7 3.0 2.7 3.1 3.4 South East 44.1 44.5 46.8 44.3 46.1 40.2 EastAnglia 2.6 2.8 3.5 3.6 3.1 3.4 SouthWest 6.7 9.1 8.3 7.6 6.7 5.9 West Midlands 7.8 7.0 7.3 9.1 (6.8)† (10.3)† East Midlands 6.2 6.3 6.9 6.5 6.4 6.1 Yorkshire and Humberside 8.5 7.6 7.9 7.8 7.3 10.3 NorthWest 10.9 10.1 7.4 8.5 8.1 8.7 North 4.3 4.2 3.9 4.1 4.3 3.2 * The figures for November 1974 relate to revised regions which differ slightly from those previously in use. From 1974 where a vacancy is notified by an employer to both an employment office and a careers office it will be included in both counts; for this reason the two counts are not added to give a figure of total notified vacancies. † Because of industrial action at some offices precise information about the numbers of notified vacancies in the West Midlands is not available and the proportion of vacancies has been estimated. as a whole and Great Britain; the unemployment percentage for the region in November was 2.0 per cent. There are currently 1,060 workers known to my Department to be on short-time in this area, mostly in the woollen, worsted and knitwear industries.