Unemployment (Hansard, 12 January 1998)

§ Mrs Liddell

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. Tom King, dated 12 January 1998: 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 unemployment rate in each of the standard regions of England at various dates. The ONS measure of unemployment, derived from the quarterly Labour Force Survey (LFS), is defined on a consistent and internationally recognised basis set out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and counts as unemployed people who are: a) without a paid job; b) available to start work within the next two weeks and c) have either looked for work in the last four weeks or are waiting to start a job already obtained. The ILO unemployment rate is defined as the number ILO employed as a proportion of all those either in employment or ILO unemployed. The ILO measure of unemployment has been used in the LFS since 1984. The LFS was conducted annually each spring between 1984 and 1991 and has been conducted quarterly since spring 1992. Tables for each Standard Statistical Region (SSR) covering the period from spring 1984 to spring 1997 are published in the Labour Force Survey Historical Supplement, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons library (ONS, December 1997, pp95–105). The ONS has recently adopted a new regional classification based on the boundaries of the Government Offices for the Regions, but there is no LFS data available on this basis prior to spring 1992. ONS also publishes the monthly claimant count, which is based on the administrative system which records all people claiming unemployment-related benefits (i.e. Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) or National Insurance (NI) credits) at Employment Service offices on the day of the monthly count, who on that day had signed on as unemployed and available to do any suitable work. Essentially, all people who attend an Employment Service office to sign on the designated day are counted. Claimant count levels and rates are available by SSR for each of the periods specified, from Nomis which can be accessed by the House of Commons Library.