Chester-le-Street (Hansard, 26 March 1973)

§ Mr. Radice
asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many 1972 school-leavers in the Chester-le-Street parliamentary constituency remain unemployed; and how this compares with the national 246W average rate of unemployment amongst 1972 school-leavers.

§ Mr. Dudley Smith
My Department's statistics do not distinguish school leavers separately by term or year of leaving. In March 1973, six school leavers were registered as unemployed at the Chester-le-Street careers office. This was 1.9 per cent. of the total of young people known by careers officers to have left school in 1971–72. In Great Britain in March 5,042 school leavers were registered as unemployed—about 0.9 per cent. of the estimated total of young people who left school in 1971–72.

§ Mr. Radice
asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many men over 50 years of age in the Chester-le-Street parliamentary constituency are unemployed; and how this compares with the national average rate of unemployment among men over 50 years of age.

§ Mr. Dudley Smith
On 8th January 1973, the latest date for which the information is available, there were 767 unemployed men aged 50 and over in the area covered by the Chester-le-Street, Birtley and Washington employment exchanges, which is similar to the Chester-le-Street constituency. In Great Britain as a whole, the rate of unemployment for males aged 50 and over was just over 5 per cent. Similar rates cannot be calculated for local areas.

§ Mr. Radice
asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the ratio of unemployed to job vacancies in the Chester-le-Street parliamentary constituency; and how this compares with the national average ratio of unemployed to job vacancies.

§ Mr. Dudley Smith
Based on provisional figures for March 1973, the ratio of people unemployed to unfilled vacancies in the area covered by the Chester-le-Street, Birtley and Washington employment exchanges, which is similar to the Chester-le-Street constituency, was 2.8 to 1. For Great Britain as a whole the ratio was 2.2 to 1. The vacancy statistics relate only to notified vacancies remaining unfilled and they do not purport to measure the total unsatisfied demand for labour.