§ Mr. Nobleasked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest figures for unemployment and short-time working in the footwear industry in the United Kingdom; and how this compares with the figures for six months and 12 months previously.
§ Mr. John FraserAt 10th March 1975 there were 2,047 unemployed people in the United Kingdom who had last worked in the past five years, and the five cate September 1974 and 1,003 at March 1974. Estimates of short-time working are available for Great Britain but not for the United Kingdom. For the week ending 15th February 1975, the most recent period for which figures are available, 15,100 operatives in footwear in Great Britain were stood off for the whole or
WALES: PERCENTAGE RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT FOR MALES 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 January … … … 5.1 5.3 5.5 5.2 6.9 5.8 4.9 * February … … … 5.0 5.2 5.3 5.2 6.8 5.2 4.8 5.9 March … … … 4.8 5.1 5.2 5.2 6.7 4.9 5.0 5.9 April … … … 4.8 5.0 5.2 5.4 6.7 5.1 5.3 7.0 May … … … 4.6 4.7 4.7 5.2 5.9 4.4 4.4 June … … … 4.4 4.5 4.3 5.0 5.5 4.0 4.2 July … … … 4.5 4.6 4.5 5.3 5.8 4.1 4.5 August … … … 4.8 4.9 4.8 5.8 6.1 4.3 5.3 September … … … 4.8 5.0 4.7 5.8 6.1 4.1 5.2 October … … … 4.8 5.0 4.6 5.8 5.7 4.0 4.9 November … … … 4.8 5.0 4.8 6.1 5.6 3.9 4.9 December … … … 4.9 5.1 5.0 6.2 5.6 4.0 * * Owing to industrial action at local offices of the Employment Service Agency rate for December 1974 and January 1975 are not available.
§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the 10 employment categories in Wales which represent a net gain of jobs in the past five years, and the five categories representing a job loss.
§ Mr. John FraserInformation about the number of jobs gained and lost is not available but an indication of net changes can be obtained by comparing the levels of the mid-year employment estimates. The following list is based on the industry orders of the Standard Industrial Classification. Changes in the numbers employed have been measured from June 1969, when a revised industrial classification was brought into use, to June 1973, the most recent date for which figures are available. Industry orders in which there has been no change in the level of employment or in which the change is under 1,000 employees have not been included.256W some part of the week and a total of 127,000 hours was lost. The corresponding figures for August 1974 were 8,700 operatives and 64,400 hours. In February 1974 production was reduced in many industries due to the emergency situation and in footwear a total of 36,400 operatives were affected by short-time working and 515,300 hours were lost. The figures for February 1975 and August 1974 have been calculated on a slightly different basis from those for February 1974.