§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest monthly unemployment figures and vacancy figures for the travel-to-work areas most nearly corresponding to (a) the City of Manchester and (b) Greater Manchester, together with the corresponding monthly figures for each year since and including 1970.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 21st December 1979, c. 479]: The 27W following table gives the information for the Manchester travel-to-work area and for the Greater Manchester metropolitan
Manchester travel-to-work area Unfilled vacancies Greater Manchester metropolitan county Unfilled vacancies Registered unemployed At employment offices At careers offices Registered unemployed At employment offices At careers offices December 1970 … 15,991 5,879 1,413 26,526 8,566 2,122 December 1971 … 26,874 2,841 1,005 46,686 4,003 1,279 December 1972 … 26,417 3,430 1,175 43,390 5,533 1,561 December 1973 … 15,238 7,103 3,364 23,808 12,775 4,940 December 1974* … — 5,607 1,334 — 9,540 2,375 December 1975 … 34,477 2,305 839 57,924 3,822 1,089 December 1976* … — — — — — — December 1977 … 43,700 3,281 327 72,343 5,383 491 December 1978 … 38,837 5,113 665 64,629 7,943 868 December 1979 … 37,823 4,418 498 65,107 7,043 624 * Because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment group, unemployment figures for December 1974 and unemployment and vacancy figures for December1976 are not available. Note: The vacancy figures relate only to those notified to employment offices and careers offices: vacancies notified to employment offices are estimated to be about one-third of all vacancies in the country as a whole. Because of possible duplication the figures for employment and careers offices should not be added together.