§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment, further to his Written Answer to the hon. Member for Blaby, Official Report, 22nd February 1977, columns 556–7, if he will publish a table showing the percentage rates of unemployment in the public and private sectors of the economy for each month since November 1976 for which figures are available.
838W
§ Mr. GoldingThe unemployment statistics are available by industry only in February, May, August and November. 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 in each Heading. The following table for Great Britain is calculated on this basis:
PERCENTAGE RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT Public Sector Private Sector 1976 November * * 1977 February 2.7 5.8 May 2.6 5.4 August 2.9 5.5 November 3.0 5.7 1978 February 3.1 5.9 May 2.9 5.3 August 3.0 5.2 * Because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment Group the count for November 1976 was incomplete.