HC Deb 21 June 1976 vol 913 cc374-6W
Mr. Hayhoe

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will publish a table giving the numbers and percentage of unemployed in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and the USA together with the changes in percentage rates at the latest annual, quarterly and monthly basis.

Mr. Golding

The table is given below. Seasonally adjusted data have been used for the monthly and quarterly changes, but not for the annual changes. Owing to national differences in coverage, concepts of unemployment and methods of compilation, the figures are not directly comparable.

United Kingdom* Germany* France* Sweden† Switzerland†‡ Japan† United States†
1. Latest data
Month (1976) … … May May April April April March May
Number ('000) … … 1,271.8 953.5 896.0 70.0 25.9 1,250.0 6,304.0
Percentage Rate … … 5.5 4.2 5.0§ 1.7 0.8 2.4 6.7
Seasonally adjusted Percentage Rate … … 5.4 4.4¶ 5.3§ 1.7ob/ N.A. 1.8¶ 7.3
2. Changes in percentage rates Annual
Rate one year earlier … … 3.6 4.4 4.2§ 1.6 0.2 2.2 8.3
Change in rate over one year … … +1.9 -0.2 +0.8 +0.1 +0.6 +0.2 -1.6
Quarter (seasonally adjusted)
Rate three months earlier … … 5.3 5.2§ 5.2§ 1.7ob/ 1.0 2.1 7.6
Change in rate over three months … … +0.1 -0.8 +0.1 — -0.2 -0.3 -0.3
Month (seasonally adjusted)
Rate one month earlier … … 5.3 4.7¶ 5.3§ 1.5 0.9 2.1 7.5
Change in rate over one month … … +0.1 -0.3 — N.A. -0.1 -0.3 -0.2

Notes:

* Percentage rates have been calculated using the total employees (employed and unemployed) as the denominator.

† Percentage rates have been calculated using the civilian labour force (including the self-employed) as denominator.

‡ As seasonally adjusted data are not available for Switzerland unadjusted rates have been quoted.

§ Calculated by the Department of Employment.

ob/ Only quarterly data is seasonally adjusted. The latest rate is for the first quarter of 1976 and the "rate three months earlier" is for the fourth quarter of 1975.

¶ Estimate, derived from unadjusted data.

Sources:

OECD Main Economic Indicators, OECD Labour Force Statistics 1962–73.

Labour Attache reports and La Vie Economique (Switzerland).

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