§ Sir David Priceasked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest figures for the registered unemployed and for the notified vacancies in the Southampton travel-to-work area; and, in each case, what percentage of the known working population they represent.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 24 June 1980, c. 90]:At 12 June, the provisional number registered as unemployed in the Southampton travel-to-work area was 10.077, an unemployment rate of 4.6 per cent. The rate is based on the estimated numbers of employees—employed and unemployed—which differs from the working population in that it excludes self-employed people and members of Her Majesty's Forces.
At 6 June there were 1,828 notified vacancies remaining unfilled at employment offices and 83 at careers offices in the Southampton travel-to-work area.
The vacancy statistics relate only to vacancies 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 two should not be added together nor can they be expressed as a meaningful percentage of the working population.