§ Mr. Watkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the number of persons presently working on short time; and what was the number of such persons (a) six months ago and (b) 12 months ago.
§ Mr. John FraserFollowing is the information available:
NUMBERS ON SHORT-TIME IN GREAT BRITAIN Regular monthly inquiries Reports from regions March 1975 Not yet available 220,000 February 1975 181,000 — September 1974 63,000 — March 1975 235,000 — The latest figure available from the regular monthly statistical inquiry is for February 1975 and relates to operatives in manufacturing industries. The more recent figure, for March 1975, is an approximate estimate compiled from regional reports and may not be precisely comparable with or as reliable as the regular monthly statistics. The figure for March 1974 relates to operatives at establishments with 11 or more employees in manufacturing industries except shipbuilding and ship repairing and is not strictly comparable with the figures for September 1974 and February 1975 which 60W relate to operatives at all manufacturing establishments.