§ Ms CorstonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the number of lone parents who are out of work(a) in Great Britain and (b) in other European countries. [11392]
§ Mrs. Angela Knight[holding answer 28 January 1997]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Ms Jean Corston, dated 3 February 1997:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on the number of lone parents who are out of work in Great Britain and other European countries.According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) there was in Great Britain in summer 1996 a total of 136,000 unemployed lone parents with dependent children (15 year olds and under and 16–18 year olds in non-advanced further education). The LFS uses the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition of unemployment. This covers people without a job who were available to start work in the two weeks following their LFS interview and who had either looked for work in the four weeks prior to interview or were waiting to start a job they had already obtained. The ILO unemployment rate for lone parents was 15.7 per cent. This rate is defined as all those ILO unemployed as a percentage of all those either ILO unemployed or in employment.European comparisons are published in the annual Eurostat publication Labour Force Survey Results which is available in the House of Commons Library. The lower half of Table 115 gives unemployment rates for various household types including '1 adult and children'. A copy of this table is attached. The EUR 15 figure is a weighted average of the national figures, weighted by the size of the relevant economically active population in each country.475WThe rates published in the table are not directly comparable with the rate quoted above for a variety of reasons. The Eurostat figures do not cover all lone parents with dependent children. For example they exclude lone parents whose youngest dependent child is aged 15 to 18 and those lone parents who are not the only adult in the
Activity rates and unemployment rates by household type (children under 15)* Percentage Labour force survey 1995 I L NL A P FIN S UK Activity rates 1 person households 28.5 36.4 47.6 43.2 31.6 48.0 — 42.4 1 male adult aged 15 to 64 years 78.2 82.0 76.8 80.7 72.1 74.6 — 8.17 1 female adult aged 15 to 64 years 47.5 59.4 66.1 66.8 53.1 69.8 — 68.6 1 male adult aged 65+ years 4.3 — 4.5 — 19.4 — — 5.8 1 female adult aged 65+ years 1.2 — 0.9 (1.3) 9.4 — — 2.2 Several adults and no children 43.0 43.3 56.6 54.0 52.3 57.0 — 60.3 2 adults, both aged 15 to 64 years 56.4 59.7 71.1 67.2 64.3 71.2 — 78.1 2 adults, 1 or both aged 65+ years 10.5 6.5 7.0 11.8 22.2 10.3 — 13.0 3 or more adults and no children 48.6 48.2 63.7 62.1 57.6 64.0 — 70.7 1 adult and children 78.1 76.9 51.5 88.6 79.6 73.7 — 46.8 1 male adult and 1 or more children 90.6 — 74.4 (98.8) (73.6) 95.0 — 66.3 1 female adult and 1 or more children 75.4 75.2 49.7 88.1 80.1 71.7 — 45.1 2 adults and children 73.6 70.5 76.1 82.8 84.6 81.6 — 79.8 2 adults and 1 child 75.9 73.1 77.8 85.2 84.7 81.0 — 81.1 2 adults and 2 children 72.1 69.2 77.5 81.8 85.8 83.9 — 81.8 2 adults and 3 children 67.6 68.3 71.9 79.6 80.9 79.5 — 75.8 2 adults and four or more children 65.5 (60.4) 63.8 72.5 69.3 69.3 — 61.3 3 or more adults and children 50.5 55.0 61.9 65.7 63.0 68.1 — 67.0 Total private households 47.4 50.8 59.2 59.4 58.1 61.1 — 61.5 Unemployment rates 1 person household 7.9 2.4 12.9 4.5 5.2 23.2 — 14.4 1 male adult aged 15 to 64 years 7.2 0.8 14.0 4.1 9.7 28.0 — 18.5 1 female adult aged 15 to 64 years 9.4 5.0 11.7 5.1 4.5 17.9 — 8.9 1 male adult aged 65+ years 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.7 0.0 0.0 — 5.4 1 female adult aged 65+ years 6.1 0.0 0.0 3.5 0.0 0.0 — 4.5 Several adults and no children 13.3 2.8 5.6 4.2 7.2 15.7 — 7.2 2 adults, both aged 15 to 64 years 8.6 2.6 5.0 5.0 6.3 13.8 — 6.1 2 adults, 1 or both aged 65 + years 9.2 2.7 5.2 4.5 1.6 13.5 — 7.2 3 or more adults and no children 14.8 2.9 6.5 3.7 8.1 19.1 — 8.3 1 adult and children 11.9 5.4 18.0 8.5 12.5 27.7 — 22.7 1 male adult and 1 or more children 9.3 — 15.5 (0.0) (9.9) 14.9 — 18.2 1 female adult and 1 or more children 12.5 6.0 18.3 9.0 12.7 29.3 — 23.3 2 adults and children 8.1 2.4 6.5 4.2 6.0 14.1 — 8.2 2 adults and 1 child 7.7 3.2 7.6 4.2 6.6 15.4 — 7.9 2 adults and 2 children 7.9 1.7 5.9 4.7 5.1 12.6 — 6.7 2 adults and 3 children 11.2 1.8 5.9 2.6 5.5 13.7 — 10.8 2 adults and 4 or more children 13.0 3.7 7.0 1.6 9.7 19.3 — 20.2 3 or more adults and children 13.9 4.2 8.9 4.5 7.7 17.3 — 9.4 Total private households 11.8 2.9 7.2 4.3 7.1 16.9 — 8.7 476W
Activity rates and unemployment rates by household type (children under 15)* Percentage Labour force survey 1995 EUR 15 B DK D GR E F IRL Activity rates 1 person households 40.8 34.3 — 46.0 27.7 22.0 42.0 39.9 1 male adult aged 15 to 64 years 79.3 74.0 — 81.4 73.0 74.7 76.5 76.0 1 female adult aged 15 to 64 years 64.8 54.5 — 69.9 45.6 53.5 65.9 62.0 1 male adult aged 65+ years 4.3 (2.6) — 3.0 6.2 4.1 2.0 15.2 1 female adult aged 65+ years 1.4 (0.6) — 1.2 1.6 1.1 0.8 Several adults and no children 50.3 43.3 — 54.2 45.3 42.9 47.8 52.6 2 adults, both aged 15 to 64 years 68.6 57.8 — 70.1 59.9 61.3 66.5 70.8 2 adults, 1 or both aged 65+ years 10.0 6.7 — 8.4 13.8 10.3 6.6 18.0 3 or more adults and no children 55.9 59.4 — 62.9 51.9 48.0 55.1 55.3 1 adult and children 65.8 73.5 — 74.1 72.1 81.3 85.2 46.6 1 male adult and 1 or more children 81.4 85.8 — 87.4 (95.4) 85.9 91.4 1 female adult and 1 or more children 64.2 71.9 — 72.7 68.2 80.9 84.5 45.5 2 adults and children 78.9 84.1 — 78.5 73.6 74.5 84.7 71.6 2 adults and 1 child 81.1 85.2 — 81.5 74.3 76.9 87.5 75.2 household. These exclusions are likely to increase the unemployment rate. The Eurostat figures are also less up to date and refer to the United Kingdom rather than Great Britain as specified in your question. Estimates of the number of unemployed lone parents are not available from the Eurostat publication.
477W
Activity rates and unemployment rates by household type (children under 15)* Percentage Labour force survey 1995 EUR 15 B DK D GR E F IRL 2 adults and 2 children 79.3 86.4 — 78.3 74.0 73.8 86.8 73.8 2 adults and 3 children 73.0 78.7 — 69.1 69.1 69.2 75.6 68.9 2 adults and 4 or more children 62.8 62.9 — 61.8 68.2 62.4 62.6 60.7 3 or more adults and children 57.0 49.7 — 61.9 52.6 52.0 54.5 49.0 Total private households 54.9 50.5 — 57.7 49.2 48.2 55.4 53.9 Unemployment rates 1 person household 11.7 15.8 — 10.2 7.5 12.9 12.3 13.7 1 male adult aged 15 to 64 years 13.3 16.1 — 11.5 6.4 14.3 13.5 17.0 1 female adult aged 15 to 64 years 9.9 15.8 — 8.7 9.4 12.5 11.2 11.2 1 male adult aged 65 + years 2.4 0.0 — 2.3 1.5 3.6 0.0 0.4 1 female adult aged 65 + years 3.2 8.5 — 1.6 3.4 0.0 4.2 6.4 Several adults and no children 10.7 8.1 — 7.7 10.6 23.6 11.7 10.3 2 adults, both aged 15 to 64 years 8.4 7.7 — 8.4 6.9 18.4 10.4 9.5 2 adults, 1 or both aged 65 + years 9.0 9.1 — 8.4 4.5 18.7 11.2 8.3 3 or more adults and no children 12.5 8.3 — 7.0 12.7 25.0 13.2 10.9 1 adult and children 19.6 27.5 — 17.0 11.9 28.7 21.1 31.1 1 male adult and 1 or more children 13.1 16.9 — 13.0 8.6 4.2 10.7 — 1 female adult and 1 or more children 20.5 29.2 — 17.5 12.7 30.7 22.4 33.7 2 adults and children 9.1 8.2 — 7.3 5.8 18.6 10.3 11.2 2 adults and 1 child 9.3 9.1 — 7.6 6.8 19.4 10.8 10.1 2 adults and 2 children 8.2 6.6 — 6.8 5.2 17.4 8.9 11.3 2 adults and 3 children 10.0 8.8 — 6.9 5.1 18.9 11.2 10.9 2 adults and 4 or more children 17.0 16.3 — 12.9 5.4 28.6 21.5 14.2 3 or more adults and children 13.3 10.3 — 8.0 8.6 25.2 14.5 15.3 Total private households 10.8 9.3 — 8.2 9.1 22.7 11.9 12.0
§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the number of lone parents who are out of work in(a) Great Britain and (b) other European countries [11394]
§ Mrs. Knight[holding answer 28 January 1997]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Alan Milburn, dated 3 February 1997:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on the number of lone parents who are out of work in Great Britain and other European countries.According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) there was in Great Britain in summer 1996 a total of 136,000 unemployed lone parents with dependent children (15 year olds and under and the 16–18 year olds in non-advanced further education). The LFS uses the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition of unemployment. This covers people without a job who were available to start work in the two weeks following their LFS interview and who had either looked for work in the four weeks prior to interview or were waiting to start a job they had already obtained. The ILO unemployment rate for lone parents was 15.7 per cent. This rate is defined as all those ILO unemployed as a percentage of all those either ILO unemployed or in employment.European comparisons are published in the annual Eurostat publication Labour Force Survey Results which is available in the House of Commons Library. The lower half of Table 115 gives unemployment rates for various household types including '1 adult and children'. A copy of this table is attached. The EUR 15 figure is a weighted average of the national figures, weighted by the size of the relevant economically active population in each country.The rates published in the table are not directly comparable with the rate quoted above for a variety of reasons. The Eurostat figures do not cover all lone parents with dependent children. For example they exclude lone parents whose youngest dependent child is aged 15 to 18 and those lone parents who are not the only adult in the household. These exclusions are likely to increase the 478W unemployment rate. The Eurostat figures are also less up to date and refer to the United Kingdom rather than Great Britain as specified in your question. Estimates of the number of unemployed lone parents are not available from the Eurostat publication.