§ Mr. Barry Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Wales how many jobs have been lost in the manufacturing sector in (a) Clwyd and (b) Wales since (i) 1979 and (ii) 1983.
§ Mr. Nicholas EdwardsComprehensive information regarding the latest number of jobs lost in the manufacturing sector is not available. The latest Department of Employment estimates for employees in employment in Wales indicate that there were 112,000 fewer jobs in June 1986 than in June 1979. The comparable loss between June 1983 and June 1986 is 11,000.
Although equivalent information is not available for Clwyd, results of my Department's regional data system (which largely relate to the previous, 1968, definition of manufacturing and to companies of more than 10 employees) indicate that there was a fall of about 11,000 in the numbers employed in the establishments covered between 1979 and 1983, and a rise of over 1,500 in the period 1983 to the latest available date, which may vary a little because of the timing of reports from the establishments concerned.