§ Miss Fookesasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many construction workers are at present unemployed in (a) the West Country and (b) the United Kingdom; and what proportion these figures represent of the total work force in the region and the country as a whole.
§ Mr. GoldingAt August 1976, the number of registered unemployed people in the South-West Region who last worked in the construction industry was 15,690, representing 14.8 per cent. of all employees—employed and unemployed—in that industry and region. The corresponding figures for the United Kingdom were 206,581 and 14 per cent. As a proportion of employees in all industries and services, the corresponding percentages were 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.