§ Mr. Maxwell-Hyslopasked the Secretary of State for Employment, for Great Britain and England, what is the number of (a) self-employed persons, (b) employers employing one full-time employee, and (c) employers employing two full-time employees.
§ Mr. AlisonThe latest estimate of the number of self-employed persons is for June 1981. There were then 2,057,000 in Great Britain and 1,793,000 in England.
Information on the number of employers employing one or two full-time employees is not available. However, it is estimated, from a sample of records from the 1981 census of employment, that in Great Britain the number of census units with one employee was 120,000 while a further 135,000 reported two employees. A census unit is not necessarily a separate employer. Some units represent one establishment of a larger firm and some only part of the work force at an establishment.