§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Paymaster General (1) if he will publish a table showing (a) the percentage unemployment rate for each month since May 1979 and (b) the rate recalculated to include the number of self-employed now to be taken into account;
(2) if the change in the basis of calculating the rate of unemployment by including the self-employed in the calculations was requested by the statisticians in his Department.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe more widely based unemployment rate which I announced on 19 February will be published together with the rate calculated on the previous basis.
Rates of claimant unemployment United Kingdom 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 January 5.6 5.6 9.4 12.0 13.4 13.2 13.8 14.1 February 5.6 5.7 9.5 11.9 13.3 13.2 13.7 — March 5.4 5.6 9.6 11.7 13.2 13.0 13.5 — April 5.2 5.8 9.8 11.7 13.2 12.8 13.5 — May 5.0 5.8 9.9 11.6 12.7 12.8 13.4 — June 5.1 6.2 9.9 11.5 12.4 12.5 13.1 — July 5.5 7.1 10.4 11.8 12.6 12.8 13.4 — August 5.5 7.6 10.7 12.0 12.5 12.9 13.4 — September 5.3 7.8 11.3 12.7 13.2 13.6 13.8 — October 5.2 7.9 11.4 12.6 12.9 13.3 13.5 — November 5.2 8.3 11.4 12.7 12.8 13.3 13.5 — December 5.2 8.6 11.4 12.8 12.8 13.3 13.5 —
§ Sir Frederic Bennettasked the Paymaster General if he will give the latest figures for the number of men aged 60 to 64 years who are currently in work.
§ Mr. LangIt is estimated from the labour force survey conducted in the spring of 1984 that there were 768,000 men aged 60 to 64 years in paid employment in Great Britain.