§ Mr. Leightonasked the Paymaster General how many jobs have been lost in manufacturing in London since 1979.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThere are no figures for job gains and job losses. My Department's statistics can give an indication of the net changes in employment by comparing levels of employment at different dates.
Separate figures for Greater London are not available for 1979. Between June 1978 and June 1986 there was a net decrease of 255,000 employees in employment in manufacturing in Greater London.
Some of the decrease in the figures for manufacturing industry will he the result of the re-classification of jobs such as industrial cleaning, catering, computer services and road haulage previously done by manufacturers' own employees and now done by sub-contractors. This developing feature of our economy has the effect of exaggerating the extent of the move from manufacturing to service sector employment.