§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his best estimate of the total number of employees employed by companies (a) under 1,500 workers in the United Kingdom, (b) 1,500–2,000 workers in the United Kingdom, (c) 2,000–2,500 workers in the United Kingdom; and (d) over 2,500 workers in the United Kingdom; and how many companies fall into each of the above categories.
§ Mr. Golding,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 25th January 1977; Vol. 631W 924, c. 549], gave the following information:
Comprehensive information is not available about the numbers of employees in companies in various size ranges. Some information, however, is available from the censuses of production for enterprises in the private sector of manufacturing industry. The most recent information relates to 1972 and the following table shows the numbers of persons engaged—that is, both employees and working proprietors—in the size ranges available that are nearest to those requested:
Size Range Numbers Engaged (Numbers engaged) ('000s) Up to 1,499 … … 2,885.0 1,500 to 1,999 … … 186.5 2,000 to 2,999 … … 372.1 3,000 and over … … 3,661.3 7,104.9