§ 32. Mr. Hooleyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the light of current fiscal policies, what is his time scale for reducing the level of unemployment to 1 million.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettForecasts of unemployment are liable to large margins of error. But as my right hon. Friend told the House on 6th July, unemployment should be falling before the end of this year from a level which is already lower than pessimists were predicting last winter. The rate of economic growth he foresees for the coming year is consistent with our objective of getting unemployment down to 3 per cent. in 1979 provided we can maintain progress on our industrial strategy and counter-inflation policies.