§ Mr. Ernie RossThe Prime Minister what information she possesses from the 1981 census of Britain of the number and percentage of unemployed in Britain by social class.
§ The Prime MinisterThe information requested is as follows.
The census includes as "out of employment" those persons who—in the week before the census—were either seeking work, prevented from seeking work by temporary sickness, or waiting to take up a job already accepted. The social classification used in the census is based on the occupation of those persons in employment and on the previous occupation of those out of employment. The economically active include both those in employment and those out of employment.
19W
Social class as defined for census tabulation Economically active Out of employment Percentage of those out of employment who were in each social class Percentage* in social class who were out of employment All persons age 16 and over 25,405,590 2,489,400 100 9.8 I. Professional, etc. occupations 948,660 24,050 1 2.5 II. Intermediate occupations 5,313,790 176,210 7.1 3.3 III. (N) Skilled occupations 5,554,870 245,120 9.8 4.4 III. (M) Skilled occupations—manual 6,173,040 596,400 24.0 9.7 Partly skilled occupations 4,582,690 440,570 17.7 9.6 Unskilled occupations 1,613,340 244,180 9.8 15.1 Inadequately described, never previously occupied or previously employed in the armed forces 1,219,200 762,870 30.6 62.6 * Percentage of the economically active.