HC Deb 14 February 1978 vol 944 cc134-8W
Mr. Knox

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each year since 1945 (a) the total civil labour force, (b) the total number of individuals employed, (c) the number unemployed, (d) the number of self-employed, (e) the total number in the Armed Forces, (f) the total number employed in the Civil Service, and (g) the number employed in local government.

Mr. Golding

The following is the information available:

Great Britain Thousands
(a) Civilian Labour force (b) Employees in employment (c) Registered unemployed (Mid-year estimates) (d) Self employed (e) Her Majesty's Force (f) Civil Service (At 1st April) (g) local Government (At June)
1945 … … 16,559 16,416* 103 * 5,090 1,376 NA
1946 … … 18,491 17,415* 376 * 2,032 1,112 NA
1947 … … 19,065 18,650* 260 * 1,302 1,105 NA
1948(1) … 19,428 19,064* 272 * 846 1,075 NA
1948(2) … 21,842(i) 21,566* 276 * 938(ii)
1949 … … 21,984 21,728* 256 * 787 1,098 NA
1950(1) … 22,285 22,013* 272 * 697 1,068 NA
1950(2) … 22,285(i) 22,318* 272 1,694 697
1951 … … 22,404 20,526 183 1,694 835 1,061 NA
1952 … … 22,477 20,489 296 1,692 880 1,088 1,448
1953 … … 22,574 20,609 276 1,690 870 1,079 1,469
1954 … … 22,875 20,961 227 1,687 845 1,075 1,487
1955 … … 23,123 21,258 181 1,685 809 1,046 1,515
1956 … … 23,389 21,517 190 1,683 767 1,047 1,556
1957 … … 23,538 21,610 247 1,681 708 1,032 1,594
1958 … … 23,497 21,450 368 1,679 620 1,001 1,626
1959(1) … 23,627 21,565 385 1,677 569 984 1,671
1959(2) … 23,045(i) 20,983 385 1,677 569
1960 … … 23,422 21,450 297 1,675 518 982 1,709
1961 … … 23,709 21,789 255 1,665 474 643(iii) 1,755
1962 … … 24,031 22,006 372 1,653 442 647 1,821
1963 … … 24,162 22,060 461 1,641 427 662 1,887
1964 … … 24,308 22,362 317 1,629 424 658 1,964
1965 … … 24,506 22,619 270 1,617 423 655 2,025
1966 … … 24,649 22,787 253 1,609 417 662 2,123
1967 … … 24,502 22,347 466 1,689 417 680 2,212
1968 … … 24,405 22,186 506 1,713 400 708 2,287
1969 … … 24,414 22,148 483 1,783 380 699 2,344
1970 … … 24,349 21,993 524 1,832 372 701 2,386
1971 … … 24,177 21,648 687 1,842 368 700 2,466
1972 … … 24,250 22,650 765 1,835 371 690 2,584
1973 … … 24,611 22,182 545 1,884 361 700 2,699
1974 … … 24,676 22,297 515 1,864 345 692 2,697(iv)
1975 … … 24,866 22,213 828 1,825 336 701 2,893(iv)
1976 … … 25,151 22,048 1,278 1,825 336 748 2,939
1977 … … 25,387 22,172 1,390 1,825 327 746 2,911
* Separate estimates for the self employed are not available for these years and are therefore included in (a) "employees in employment".
NA—Not available.

NOTES

  1. (i) Since 1945 methods of making employment estimates have changed several times. This has led to discontinuities at some points. Where this occurs two sets of figures are given. Further details of the methods of estimation are given in British Labour Statistics—Historical Abstract 1886–1968, Appendix B and footnotes to pages 218–220.
  2. (ii) For the years 1945–1948 (1) men and women on release leave from the Armed Forces who were not in employment are included in the figures for civilian labour force but not elsewhere. From 1948 (2) onwards those on release leave are included in HM Forces but not in the civilian labour force.
  3. (iii) The figures for the Civil Service include established and unestablished non-industrial and industrial staff but exclude casual or seasonal staff (recruited for periods of normally less than six months) and employees of the Northern Ireland Government. Two part-time employees are counted as one whole-time employee. Post Office employees are excluded from 1961. From 1972 the figures exclude certain staff not employed by government departments 136 but deemed to be civil servants for superannuation purposes; namely, the staff of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, the Exchequer and Audit Department, and certain judicial officers.
  4. (iv) In this table local government embraces all functions of local authorities which have power to raise funds by means of rates or levies. It includes, for example, local authority education services and construction departments and is therefore much wider than the activity "local government service" as defined in the Standard Industrial Classification. Changes in the method of collecting figures for employment by local authorities in Great Britain occurred in 1975 and 1976 and there are therefore discontinuities to be considered when comparing figures for 1975 or 1976 with earlier years. Comparisons are also complicated by the transfers which took place between June 1973 and June 1974 both between local authorities and central government (where there was a transfer of staff following the reorganisation of the National Health Service) and between local authorities and public corporations with the setting up of the regional water authorities. Further information on the various changes is 137 given in Economic Trends December 1977 and in the Department of Employment Gazette, November 1976.

Mr. David Price

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the total number of young people becoming available for work for the first time for each of the next five years; what is his estimate of the total number of older people at work reaching retirement age for each of the next five years; and what is the resultant effect upon the size of the national labour force for each of the next five years.

Mr. Golding

The following figures relate to the numbers of young people becoming available for work, after leaving school:

GREAT BRITAIN
Academic years and School leavers available for employment
000's
1977–78 683
1978–79 691
1979–80 707
1980–81 707
1981–82 705

These figures do not cover school leavers going on to full-time further or higher education, nor students leaving full-time further or higher education. The latter represent a substantial additional group of young people becoming available for employment, for which, however, figures are not available.

The numbers of older workers reaching the normal retirement ages of 60 for women and 65 for men in each of the next five years are estimated to be as follows:

GREAT BRITAIN
Mid-year to mid-year and Numbers in the Labour Force Reaching Normal Retirement Age
000's
1977–78 349
1978–79 353
1979–80 415
1980–81 383
1981–82 364

Some workers, included in the above figures, will continue to work after reaching the normal retirement age.

School leavers available for employment and workers leaving the labour force at normal retiring age are only two of the groups moving into or out of the labour force each year; many join the labour force, and many leave it, for a variety of reasons, at other ages.

The estimated net changes in the size of the labour force in each of the next five years are as follows:

GREAT BRITAIN
Mid-year to mid-year and Projected Increase in the Labour Force
000's
1977–78 +193
1978–79 +176
1979–80 +159
1980–81 +153
1981–82 +242