HC Deb 04 February 1985 vol 72 c406W
Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of the known unemployed are (a) single men, (b) single women and (c) married men with dependent wives and children.

Mr. Alan Clark

The latest information comes from provisional results of the 1983 labour force survey, which shows that in the second quarter of 1983 there were 2,939 thousand persons without a job and looking for work, of whom 31 per cent. were single men, 20 per cent. single women and 19 per cent. married men with dependent children under 16. Separate information on those men with both dependent children and dependent wives is not available.

Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for Employment, of those who became unemployed during December 1983, what proportion obtained a job during 1984; on average, how many months elapsed before they did so; if the figures are now publicly available; and if he will give the figures for the last period for which there are figures.

Mr. Alan Clark

Precise figures are not available in the form requested. However, broad estimates indicate that roughly half of people becoming unemployed leave the claimant register within three months while the order of four in five leave the register within a year. Information is not available on the proportion finding jobs.

Mr. David Atkinson

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number of those in work for each year since 1970.

Mr. Alan Clark

Quarterly estimates of the employed labour force are published regularly in table 1.1 of the labour market data section ofEmployment Gazette, copies of which are in the Library. Estimates for September 1981 to September 1984, the latest available, were published in the January issue of Employment Gazette. Estimates for March 1970 to June 1981 were contained in table 1.1 of Historical Supplement No. 1 to the August 1984 issue of Employment Gazette.

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