§ Mr. Hicksasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many building and construction workers are at present unemployed in the South-West assisted area, the South-West Region and the United Kingdom; and what percentage these figures represent of the total workforce in these areas, respectively.
§ Mr. GoldingAt August 1976, the number of registered unemployed people in the South West Assisted Area who last worked in the construction industry was 3,986, representing 16.9 per cent. of all employees—employed and unemployed—in that industry and area. The corresponding figures for the South West Region were 15,690 and 14.8 per cent. and for the United Kingdom 206,581 and 14 per cent. As a proportion of employees in all industries and services, the corresponding percentages were 1.4 in the South West assisted area, 1.0 in the region and 0.9 in the United Kingdom. The numbers unemployed are analysed by industry quarterly. However, because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment Group, the count for November 1976 was incomplete and the latest comprehensive figures are for August.