§ 74. Mr. Stonehouseasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current estimate for short-time working in the West Midlands; and what efforts his Department is making to reduce this figure.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithDuring the week commencing 10th January, 45,488 people in the West Midlands region were known to have worked for less than their full working week. They comprised 25,185 registered unemployed people who were temporarily stopped on Monday, 10th January, and 20,303 people who, although not registered as unemployed on that day, were known to have been stopped at some time during the remainder of the week. Not all of these temporarily stopped were on short-time for economic reasons. Some were laid off because of the indirect effects of industrial disputes. The extensive reflationary measures we have introduced should, in time, lead to an improvement in the economic situation in the West Midlands and therefore to a reduction in short-time working.