§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list in the Official Report (a) numbers of unemployed workers aged up to 21 years and (b) the percentage of all unemployed workers who are aged up to 21 years in Birkenhead, the Birkenhead travel-to-work area and Great Britain, respectively.
§ Mr. Jim LesterI shall reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Employment approximately what percentage of those unemployed for more than two years live in areas where unemployment is less than 5 per cent.
§ Mr. Jim LesterThe following information is based on counties and could be provided for smaller areas only at disproportionate cost. There are 23 counties with unemployment rates lower than 5 per cent. At July 1979, out of all those unemployed for more than two years in Great Britain, 21 per cent. were in these 23 counties.
§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Employment approximately what percentage of those unemployed for more than two years live in areas where registered vacancies are about 25 per cent. of the total number of registered unemployed.
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§ Mr. Jim LesterThe following information is based on counties and could be provided for smaller areas only at disproportionate cost. There are 13 counties where the numbers of unfilled vacancies at employment offices are from 20 to 29.9 per cent. of the numbers unemployed. At July 1979, out of all those unemployed for more than two years in Great Britain, 11 per cent. were in these 13 counties.
The vacancy statistics relate only to those notified to employment offices and remaining unfilled on the day of the count. A survey carried out in April-June 1977 estimated that vacancies notified to employment offices are about one-third of all vacancies in the country as a whole.