§ Mr. Madelasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the sector working parties which have sent him estimates of employment; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GoldingThe sector working parties which have prepared employment estimates are listed below. It has always been my view that the major increase in employment resulting from the industrial strategy will come about through increased competitiveness, enabling us to have a higher level of demand and higher employment in both the private and public sectors.
Sector working parties which provided employment estimates
- Specialised organics
- Heavy electrical machinery
- Electronic components
- Food and drink industries
- Machine tools
- Food and drink machinery
- Industrial trucks
- Mining machinery
- Mechanical handling equipment
- Printing machinery
- Heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment
- Textile machinery
- Rubber processing
- Clothing
- Knitting
- Wool textile
- Footwear
- Domestic electrical appliances
The overall picture for these sector working parties is of broadly stable employment until the early 1980s. However, several SWPs, most notably those for mining machinery, printing machinery, food and drink machinery, clothing and some of the food and drink industry sector working groups, expect modest increases in employment, while some other SWPs, particularly those for machine tools, textile machinery, rubber and heavy electrical machinery, expect employment losses.
The SWPs for plastics processing, iron and steel and man-made fibre made broader estimates of future employment trends. Of these, only the SWP for plastics processing has forecast an increase in employment.