§ Mr. Murphyasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current number of registered unemployed in the Welwyn Hatfield constituency; what percentage this is of the work force; and how it compares with the county of Hertfordshire and the United Kingdom as a whole.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkThe attached table gives the numbers of unemployed claimants and the percentage rates of unemployment on 14 June. The figures do not include unemployed school leavers under 18 years of age registered at careers offices who are not yet entitled to benefit; these are shown separately in the table. For the Welwyn Hatfield constituency, the numbers unemployed relate to the area covered by the Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield jobcentres, which corresponds closely to the constituency.
Unemployed claimants Non-claimant school leavers under 18 years (not included in previous columns) Number Percentage rate Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield jobcentre areas 3,243 n.a. 108 Hertfordshire 30,385 7.1 803 United Kingdom 3,029,723 12.6 123,573 Note
n.a. —not available. Rates of unemployment are calculated only for complete travel-to-work areas, which are broadly self-contained labour markets. The unemployment rate for the St. Albans travel-to-work area (which comprises the Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield and St. Albans jobcentre areas) on 14 June was 6.1 per cent.
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§ Mr. Formanasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will set out in tabular form the officially recorded figures in the United Kingdom on a seasonally adjusted basis of those unemployed (a) for over six months and (b) for over 12 months in June 1964 and every succeeding year to June 1984; what percentage of the total unemployed these figures represented in each case; and what is the annual percentage increase or decrease in each of these categories as a proportion of the total unemployed in each year in comparison with the previous one.
§ Mr. Alan Clark[pursuant to his reply, 11 July 1984]: The table gives the available information. Over the period
Unemployed for over 26 and up to 52 weeks Unemployed for over 52 weeks April each year Registered unemployed Number As a percentage of total unemployed Number As a percentage of total unemployed 1964 54,110 13.4 73,734 18.2 1965 39,799 12.2 56,682 17.4 1966 37,016 12.4 47,313 15.8 1967 71,864 13.7 58,812 11.2 1968 83,603 14.7 84,796 15.0 1969 79,390 14.4 92,042 16.7 1970 79,945 13.5 98,278 16.6 1971 96,286 13.5 111,782 15.7 1972 166,182 18.2 157,181 17.2 1973 105,273 16.3 168,309 26.0 1974 71,543 12.3 131,938 22.8 1975 113,256 14.0 135,639 16.8 1976 256,738 20.9 210,982 17.1 1977 262,839 19.7 296,276 22.2 1978 284,396 20.5 332,311 24.0 1979 250,871 19.6 346,795 27.1 1980 266,486 18.3 333,869 23.0 1981 593,745 24.5 488,558 20.1 1982 695,510 24.0 949,679 32.8 Unemployed claimants 1983 693,817 22.7 1,093,190 35.8 1984 651,459 21.8 1,161,073 38.9