§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the unemployment rate in Galloway relative to that in the rest of Scotland, and relative to that in England.
§ Mr. GoldingGalloway has been taken as the area covered by the Stranraer, Newton Stewart and Castle Douglas employment offices.
Following is the information at 10th November.
Unemployment rate (Per cent.) Galloway 11.2 Scotland, except Galloway 8.5 England 5.9
§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is the unemployment rate in Glasgow relative to that in Merseyside, Manchester, Birmingham, and London; and how this compares with the position in October 1974;
(2) what is the unemployment rate in Lanark relative to that in Merseyside, Manchester, Durham, Birmingham, and London; and how this compares with the position in October 1974.
§ Mr. GoldingThe following table gives unemployment rates in the areas specified:
October 1974 October 1977 (Per cent.) (Per cent.) Glasgow travel-to-work area 4.9 9.7 Lanark Employment Office area 4.5 10.5 Merseyside Special Development area 6.0 11.7 Manchester travel-to-work area 2.8 6.4 Birmingham travel-to-work area 3.0* 6.8 Greater London 1.5 4.3 Durham Employment Office area 3.1 6.3 *Because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment Group, information for October 1974 is not available for Birmingham, and the figure shown is for September 1974.
§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he is able to estimate the number of people in Scotland who have gained full-time permanent employ- 758W ment as a result of job creation or work experience schemes.
§ Mr. Gregor MacKenzieI have been asked to reply.
I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that 307 job creation projects in Scotland in which 3,372 jobs have been approved are due to terminate in the next three months; in the same period about 1,600 young people are due to leave work experience schemes. The number who will return to the unemployment register cannot be predicted. It is estimated however that for the job creation programme as a whole, about 40 per cent, of project employees go into permanent employment, training or further education immediately on leaving JCP projects and nearly 60 per cent. of all JCP project employees are in employment about six months after leaving. An initial sample of young people who left work experience schemes indicated that 42 per cent. entered employment immediately on leaving a scheme. This figure does not include those young people who subsequently found work after a short period of unemployment.
§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his latest estimate of people employed directly or indirectly in oil-related industries in Scotland.
§ Mr. Gregor MacKenzieI have been asked to reply.
Full information in the form requested is not available. It is estimated that at June 1976, the latest date for which detailed employment figures are available for Scotland, between 56,000 and 65,000 persons were employed directly or indirectly in North Sea oil-related activities. At the same date, there were 4,200 employees in the petroleum and natural gas industries and 2,400 in mineral oil refining.
§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is his estimate of the percentage increase in Scottish unemployment since March 1974;
(2) what is the percentage increase in Scottish unemployment since December 1975;
(3) what was the percentage increase in Scottish unemployment from October 759W 1964 to June 1970, from June 1970 to November 1973 and from March 1974 to the present date;
(4) what is the percentage increase in Scottish unemployment taking October 1964 as the base point;
(5) what is the percentage increase in Scottish unemployment, taking March 1974 as the base point.
§ Mr. Gregor MacKenzieI have been asked to reply.
The following information is based on seasonally adjusted figures which exclude school leavers:
PERCENTAGE INCREASE OR DECREASE IN UNEMPLOYMENT IN SCOTLAND Per cent. March 1974 to November 1977 (Prov) +109.3 October 1964 to June 1970 +23.0 October 1964 to November 1977 (Prov) +148.8 June 1970 to November 1973 -8.3 December 1975 to November 1977 (Prov) +41.4
§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the average inflow of vacancies notified in Scotland in the three months ended October; how this compares with the average in the three months ended July and the three months ended May 1977; and if he can
PERCENTAGE CHANGES IN UNEMPLOYMENT Region June 1964 to June 1970 June 1970 to November 1973 March 1974 to November 1977 Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Highland … … … … … … +51 -2 +165 Shetland … … … … … … -47 -62 +43 Orkney … … … … … … +78 -24 +126 Western Isles … … … … … -15 +10 +3 Grampian … … … … … … +80 -25 +123 Tayside … … … … … … +57 -6 +103 Fife … … … … … … … +2 -11 +114 Strathclyde … … … … … +8 No change +105 Lothian … … … … … … +91 +3 +104 Central … … … … … … +7 +16 +97 Dumfries and Galloway … … … … +31 -12 +95 Borders … … … … … … +92 -27 +178