§ Mr. Sydney Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give details of the latest employment situation in the Birmingham travel-to-work area, with particular reference to male and female unemployment, the number of school leavers still unemployed, the number of registered vac- 114W ancies, and the number of those training and retraining for jobs; and how these figures compare with a month and a year previously.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThe general employment situation for the Birmingham area continues to improve. There has been a considerable reduction in those out of work over the past year. The employment situation for young people is most encouraging, for last month there were eight unfilled vacancies for each boy registered as unemployed and 12 vacancies for each girl. I am particularly glad that school leavers of immigrant origin are now finding more opportunities in training at craft level. Following are the detailed figures:
Brimingham travel-to-work area Numbers unemployed Males Females October 1973 (provisional) 13,018 2,291 September 1973 14,220 2,770 October 1972 22,119 4,017 Percentage rates of unemployment October 1973 (provisional) 3.2 0.9 September 1973 3.5 1.1 October 1972 5.5 1.6 School-leavers unemployed October 1973 (provisional) 62 35 September 1973 284 121 October 1972 403 210 Unfilled vacancies October 1973 (provisional) 8,636 6,092 September 1973 8,490 5,575 October 1972 2,265 2,128 The vacancy figures relate only to vacancies notified to employment offices and careers offices and do not measure the total unsatisfied demand for labour.
Information is not readily available about the numbers of people training or retraining in the course of their employment, which is where the bulk of industrial training takes place.
Numbers on Government training courses October 1973 704 September 1973 649 October 1972 372