§ Lord Lamont of Lerwickasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many job vacancies were recorded in the United Kingdom in April for each of the past seven years; and what, for the last month available, is the breakdown of vacancies by region and skill. [HL2954]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from the Director of Macroeconomics and Labour Market at the Office for National Statistics, Colin Mowl, dated 28 May 2004.
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about job vacancies in the United Kingdom. I am replying in his absence (HL2954).
The following table shows the numbers of vacancies in April of each year since 2001 according the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Vacancy Survey. There are no earlier comparable figures, because the survey did not start until April 2001.
Number of job vacancies United Kingdom, 2002–04 (April of each year) not seasonally adjusted Year Number of vacancies 2001 660,300 2002 594,300 2003 564,500 2004 603,500 Source:
ONS Vacancy Survey
Earlier figures from April 1997, shown below, are available in respect of vacancies notified to Jobcentres in Great Britain but these represent only a proportion 17WA of all the vacancies available. Corresponding figures are not available for Northern Ireland to provide United Kingdom totals for these dates.
Number of unfilled vacancies at Jobcentres Great Britain, 1997–2001 (April of each year), not seasonally adjusted Year Number of unfilled vacancies 1997 265,900 1998 270,100 1999 274,900 2000 332,500 2001 362,500 Source:
Jobcentre Plus administrative system
Table 1: Number of unfilled vacancies at Jobcentres by occupation Government Office Regions in Great Britain, October 2000 (not seasonally adjusted) Occupations* Government Office Region Managers/Administrators Professional Associate/Professional Technical Clerical/Secretarial Craft/Related Personal/Protective Service Sales Plant/Machine Operatives Other Total East Midlands 933 277 746 3,097 2,406 5,592 4,757 3,287 4,278 25,368 Eastern 1,044 419 801 3,595 2,650 5,672 4,656 3,320 5,357 27,514 London 2,268 658 1,011 6,854 3,280 9,081 6,788 3,977 7,394 41,311 North East 949 316 941 3,479 1,840 4,760 5,721 2,319 3,583 23,908 North West 1,816 659 1,852 8,555 3,990 11,285 9,032 4,751 8,655 50,595 Scotland 1,797 857 3,094 6,957 3,838 9,847 9,055 4,919 8,645 49,009 South East 2,538 631 1,398 6,248 4,360 10,829 11,345 4,331 9,945 51,625 South West 1,691 578 1,218 4,865 3,495 9,213 7,453 3,516 7,561 39,590 Wales 804 450 1,186 2,819 1,640 4,976 3,468 1,881 3,152 20,376 West Midlands 1,782 602 1,360 6,226 3,575 7,917 9,572 5,483 6,840 43,357 Yorkshire and The Humber 1,254 565 1,506 6,464 3,727 7,593 8,141 4,730 6,814 40,794 Great Britain 16,876 6,012 15,113 59,159 34,801 86,765 79,988 42,514 72,219 413,447 * Standard Occupational Classification 1990, Major groups