HC Deb 15 January 1981 vol 996 cc560-3W
Mrs. Renée Short

Secretary of State for Employment what was the number unemployed by order of the standard industrial classification and the number of vacancies in the Wolverhampton area and West Midlands at the latest convenient date.

Mr. Peter Morrison

The numbers registered as unemployed are analysed quarterly according to the industry in which the unemployed person last worked and the latest date for which this information is available is 13 November 1980. A corresponding industrial analysis of notified unfilled vacancies is available for 7 November. This information is given in the following table for the Wolverhampton employment office area and for the West Midlands region.

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 offices and careers offices should not be added together.

Wolverhampton employment office area West Midlands region
Standard Industrial Classification, 1968 Notified Vacancies Notified Vacancies
Registered Unemployed At Employment Offices At Careers Offices Registered Unemployed At Employment Offices At Careers Offices
Gas, Electricity and Water 20 887 24 3
Transport and Communication 280 2 6,454 109 17
Distributive Trades 836 36 3 18,503 997 83
Insurance, Banking, Finance and Business Services 187 8 3,975 551 31
Professional and Scientific Services 268 15 6,595 459 39
Miscellaneous Services 812 76 3 19,015 1,047 97
Public Administration and Defence 231 38 6,438 398 47
Not Classified by industry (including school leavers) 4,599 48,899
Total 13,195 208 8 234,391 5,157 485

Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is the number of (a) men, (b) women and (c) young people unemployed at the latest available date in (i) Wolverhampton and (ii) the West Midlands; what is the number of vacancies in each place for each category of worker; and if he will give the comparable figures for May 1979;

(2) what has been the percentage increase in unemployment for (a) men, (b) women and (c) young people since May 1979 to the latest convenient date in (i) Wolverhampton and (ii) the West Midlands.

Mr. Peter Morrison

Table 1 gives the total numbers of males and females registered as unemployed at 10 May 1979 and 11 December 1980, together with the percentage changes over the period, in the areas specified.

Age analyses of the numbers unemployed are made quarterly in January, April, July and October. Table 2

Table 1
Registered unemployment
May 1979 December 1980 Percentage Change
Males Females Males Females Males Females
Wolverhampton employment office area 4,457 2,108 9,530 4,103 +113.8 +94.6
West Midlands region 82,820 34,869 172,163 71,546 +107.9 +105.2

Table 2
Unemployed under 20 years of age
April 1979 October 1980 Percentage Change
Wolverhampton employment office area 1,259 3,776 +199.9
West Midlands region 18,305 51,505 +181.4

Table 3
Notified vacancies remaining unfilled
May 1979 December 1980
At Employment Offices At Careers Offices At Employment Offices At Careers Offices
Wolverhampton employment office area 524 67 205 4
West Midlands region 16,069 4,695 4,621 339

gives the numbers under 20 years of age registered as unemployed at 5 April 1979 and 9 October 1980 together with the percentage changes.

Table 3 gives the numbers of notified vacancies remaining unfilled at 4 May 1979 and 5 December 1980.

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 offices and careers offices should not be added together.

The unemployment figures for those aged under 20 years include school leavers, numerically greater in October than in April. Moreover, none of the figures below is adjusted for seasonal influences, which normally lead to unemployment being higher in December than in May, and vacancy figures lower.

Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are on short-time working now in (a) Wolverhampton and (b) the West Midlands; and what were the comparable figures for May 1979.

Mr. Waddington

Information on short-time working is available only for operatives in manufacturing industries. During the week ended 11 October 1980, the latest date for which information is available, 120,300 operatives in the West Midlands region were on short-time working, either for the whole or part of the week. During the week ended 5 May 1979 the number was 10,100.

Corresponding information for Wolverhampton is not available.

Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are at present in employment and being supported by the temporary short-time working scheme in (a) Wolverhampton and (b) the West Midlands.

Mr. Peter Morrison

It is not possible to give statistics for the temporary short-time working compensation (TSTWC) scheme for West Midlands.

In the Wolverhanpton travel-to-work area there were 7,267 potentially redundant jobs being supported in November 1980 under the TSTWC scheme. The comparable figures for the Midlands region is 82,943.

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