§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the percentage unemployed in the public and private sectors for the latest month for which figures are available, and for each preceding month over the past three years for which figures are available, on the basis used in the Under-Secretary of State's letter to the hon. Member for Blaby on 12th January.
§ Mr. Golding, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 18th February 1977; Vol. 926, col. 336], gave the following information:
Separate unemployment rates for the public and private sectors can be calculated only in an imprecise way by allocating the figures for each Minimum List Heading of the Standard Industrial Classification to the sector appropriate to the majority of those in that classification. The following table is calculated on this basis.
The percentage rates for the private sector have been revised, as explained in my letter of 12th January to the hon. Member, by the exclusion of a residual group of unemployed people who were not previously employed in any industry, 557W namely, school leavers. In addition, certain minor revisions have been made to the rates for both the public and private sectors for February to May 1976 now that the 1975 Census of employment figures have become available for use in the denominator of the calculations.
PERCENTAGE RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT Public Sector Private Sector 1974 January … … 1.6 2.6 February … … 1.5 2.7 March … … 1.5 2.6 April … … 1.6 2.5 May … … 1.5 2.3 June … … 1.4 2.2 July … … 1.5 2.2 August … … 1.5 2.5 September … … 1.6 2.5 October … … 1.6 2.6 November … … 1.6 2.7 December … … — — 1975 January … … — — February … … 1.7 3.5 March … … 1.7 3.6 April … … 1.7 3.7 May … … 1.7 3.7 June … … 1.7 3.8 July … … 1.8 4.1 August … … 1.9 4.3 September … … 2.0 4.5 October … … 2.1 4.7 November … … 2.2 5.0 December … … 2.2 5.2 1976 January … … 2.4 5.6 February … … 2.4 5.7 March … … 2.4 5.6 April … … 2.4 5.6 May … … 2.4 5.4 June … … 2.4 5.3 August … … 2.5 5.4 November … … — — Notes:
Because of industrial action by local offices of the Employment Service Agency, information for December 1974 and January 1975 is not available.
From August 1976, the industrial analysis of the unemployed is made at quarterly intervals.
Because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment Group the count for November 1976 was incomplete.
The percentages for 1974 are based on the estimated numbers of employees—employed and unemployed—at June 1974. From January 1975 onwards they are based on the estimates for June 1975.