HC Deb 14 April 1980 vol 982 cc439-40W
Dr. Hampson

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the percentage of unskilled jobs available every 10 years since 1950.

Mr. Jim Lester

[pursuant to his reply, 3 April 1980]: Since December 1972 the numbers of vacancies notified to employment offices have been analysed according to the Classification of Occupations and Directory of Occupational Titles (CODOT) which does not specifically differentiate between skilled and unskilled occupations. However, for general labourers, the numbers of notified vacancies remaining unfilled at employment offices in Great Britain at December 1972 and December 1979, expressed as percentages of all notified vacancies were 4.7 and 4.4 per cent. respectively. Comparable information for earlier dates is not available. Vacancies notified to employment offices are estimated to be about one third of all vacancies in the ecomony as a whole.