§ Mr. Adleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment if, pursuant to the answer of 29 April, Official Report, column 45, he will indicate in which areas statistics obtained from the European Economic Community or Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member states nullify direct comparability between them.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkStatistics from administrative sources, rather than from household surveys, are not directly comparable because of differences in definitions, administrative practice and methods of compilation. In particular, the coverage of the figures may differ in respect of age limits or the type of work sought by the unemployed, for example whether permanent or temporary, or full-time or part-time. Differences in conditions of entitlement to benefits also affect comparisons of registered unemployment. A detailed summary of the treatment of data on registered unemployment in EC countries is given in "Definitions of registered unemployed, 1984" published by the statistical office of the European Communities, a copy of which is available in the Library.
§ Mr. Adleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment what information he has as to the percentage increase in the population eligible for unemployment benefit for each of the last three years in each of the European Economic Community and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkInternational comparisons of unemployment are not available in the form of estimates of the population eligible for unemployment benefits.