§ Mr. Chapmanasked the Paymaster General if he has any plans to introduce more accurate assessments of the numbers in employment and the registered unemployed.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI currently have no plans for changing the methods of estimating the numbers employed and unemployed.
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Paymaster General if, on the basis of the labour force survey, he will list how many (a) men, (b) women, (c) men and women (i) said they would like a job and were available to start work in the next two weeks, (ii) said they would like a job but were not available to start work in the next two weeks but had sought work in the last four weeks and (iii) said they would like a job; and if he will provide estimates for Scotland, Wales and each region.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke[pursuant to his reply, 5 May 1987, c. 332]: I am able to give the figures requested but I trust that the hon. Member is not going to take any of this 'very partial selection of figures as any estimate of the number of unemployed people.
Estimates from the preliminary labour force survey results for the spring of 1986 of the number of people who said they would like a job for whatever reason are as shown in column 1 of the table. Columns 2 and 3 of the table extract the figures requested for those people who said they would like work and were available to start work within two weeks or, if not available, had looked for work in the last four weeks.
Of those people who said they were available for work, 1,357,000 had made no attempt to find a job in the last four weeks. This should be taken into account under any analysis, as is the case under internationally accepted definitions. On the basis of the accepted ILO definition and on the basis of the labour force survey, fewer than 3 million people were unemployed both in 1985 and 1986.
413W
Region/Sex All who would like a job, of which: Available to start within two weeks Not available, but had looked in last four weeks East Midlands 350 283 16 East Anglia 160 122 * South East 1,390 1,093 78 South West 346 278 15 West Midlands 538 456 18 North West 746 605 33 Wales 322 255 10 Scotland 555 461 14 Men Great Britain 2,608 2,245 104 Northern 204 176 * Yorkshire and Humberside 263 233 * East Midlands 164 140 * East Anglia 66 54 * South East 641 547 33 South West 156 132 * West Midlands 273 240 11 North West 384 327 18 Wales 171 141 5 Scotland 285 254 * Women Great Britain 2,688 2,047 116 Northern 169 131 * Yorkshire and Humberside 252 199 * East Midlands 185 143 * East Anglia 94 67 * South East 749 546 46 South West 189 146 * West Midlands 264 216 * North West 363 277 15 Wales 151 114 5 Scotland 271 207 * * Less than ten thousand
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Paymaster General if he will publish the April unemployment rates for the United Kingdom and for each region including Scotland and Wales using the new employment estimates contained in the 1984 Census of Employment.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke[pursuant to his reply, 5 May 1987, c. 331]: We plan to publish unemployment rates incorporating new employment estimates which take account of the 1984 census of employment results on Thursday 14 May 1987. At that time, revised regional and national rates will be available in the Library.