§ Mr. Peter Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what numbers of unemployed are registered at the following employment offices: (a) Birmingham: Aston, Birmingham Handsworth, Selly Oak, Small Heath, Sutton Cold-field, Washwood Heath; (b) Liverpool: Garston, Liverpool, Old Swan, Regent Road, Walton; and (c) Glasgow: Commercial Office, South Side, Bridgeton Easterhead, Govan, Hillington, Kinning Park, Maryhill, Parkhead, Partick, Spring-burn, and what numbers are employed in those areas.
§ Mr. John FraserFollowing is the information for the employment office areas specified. It should be noted that although employment and unemployment figures can be given for each of the employment office areas specified, these should not be used to calculate rates of unemployment for the separate areas. Rates are calculated by expressing the numbers unemployed as percentages of the estimated total numbers of employees, including the unemployed. Because people tend to use employment offices near their homes, the numbers unemployed can normally be regarded as based on the area of residence. Figures for those in employment, on the other hand, are compiled from returns completed by employers and are thus based on the area of work. Accordingly, where, as in the separate employment office areas within the Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow conurbations, considerable numbers of workers live within one local area and work in another, it is not possible to calculate from these data meaningful rates for each single area. To meet this situation, employment office areas are grouped to form travel-to-work areas, for which meaningful rates of unemployment can be calculated. At March 1976, the rates for the Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow travel-to-work areas were 6.8, 10.3 and 7.4, respectively.288W
Numbers registered as unemployed at March 1976 Employees in employment* Birmingham Aston 4,952 79,023 Birmingham 6,374 214,020 Handsworth 4,732 36,018 Selly Oak 8,006 94,118 Small Heath 9,759 88,299 Sutton Coldfield 1,627 18,690 Washwood Heath. 5,339 61,561 Total 40,789 591,729 Liverpool Garston 5,184 51,776 Liverpool 15,236 194,191 Old Swan 7,161 47,087 Bootle (including Regent Road) 4,597 36,569 Walton 5,972 51,542 Total 38,150 381,165 Glasgow Commercial 862 57,541 South Side 5,208 Bridgeton 2,585 122,536 Easterhouse 3,306 † Govan 2,411 26,731 Hillington 433 16,448 Kinning Park 893 13,190 Maryhill 3,358 29,390 Parkhead 4,660 47,304 Partick 3,055 66,528 Springburn 5,705 51,902 Total 32,486 431,570 * The employment estimates for local areas are from the annual censuses of employment. For the June 1974 census, it was not possible to make reliable estimates for local areas in England and Wales following the re-organisation of local authorities and the figures shown for these areas are for June 1973. For Scottish areas, the figures are for June 1974. † Included with Parkhead.
§ Mr. Maurice Macmillanasked the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of the population of the United Kingdom is (a) not yet at work, namely, schoolchildren and students, (b) retired and (c) available for work only for limited periods, all expressed in terms of per 1,000 population.
§ Mr. John FraserThe most readily available information for the United Kingdom is from the 1971 Census of Population. This showed that per 1,000 population, 274 persons were children aged 0.14 or schoolchildren and full-time students aged 15 and over, and 289W 98 persons were retired. I am obtaining more recent information and will publish this in the Official Report.
The Census of Population did not ask whether persons were available for work only for limited periods and I regret that this information is not available.