§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment by what number he estimates it would be possible to 90W reduce unemployment if retirement age for men were reduced to 64 years.
§ Mr. John Fraser,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 19th January 1976; Vol. 903, c. 378], gave the following information.
Firm estimates cannot be made since it is not known how many registered unemployed aged 64 or over would cease to look for work, how many employees aged 64 or over would retire, and the proportion of jobs of the persons retiring which would become available to unemployed persons. In July 1975 there were about 25,000 registered unemployed persons aged 64 and 2,000 aged 65 and over. It is estimated that at that time the number of men who were economically active—employed, self-employed or temporarily out of employment—aged 64 was approximately 200,000 and aged 65 and over about 550,000.