§ Mr. Cowansasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons under 18 years of age are registered unemployed in the Northern Region at the 474W Employment office monthly since January 1974:
Because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment Group figures are not available for December 1974, January 1975, November 1976 and December 1976.
latest convenient date; and how this compares with the previous year.
§ Mr. GoldingAt January 1977, the latest date for which an age analysis is available, 10,477 young people under 18 years of age were registered as unemployed in North Region. The corresponding figure at January 1976 was 9,049.
§ Mr. Cowansasked the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of those currently registered unemployed in the Northern Region are over 60 years of age; and how this compares with the remainder of Great Britain and the previous year.
§ Mr. GoldingAt January 1977, the latest date for which an age analysis of the unemployed is available, the proportions aged 60 years and over were 9.7 per cent. in North Region and 10.1 per cent in the rest of Great Britain. At January 1976 both proportions were 10.6 per cent.
§ Mr. Cowansasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many employees have been made redundant or have been placed on short time working in the Northern Region in the last period for which figures are available; and how this compares with the figures for the previous three years.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the number of workpeople involved in redundancies, reported as due to occur 475W in the Northern Region, during the period 1st May 1976 to 30th April 1977, was 14,980. The corresponding figures for the previous three years were as follows:
1st May 1973–30th April 1974 … 7,430 1st May 1974–30th April 1975 … 12,660 1st May 1975–30th April 1976 … 17,120 The following information is available about the numbers on short-time working in manufacturing industries in the Northern Region. It relates only to operatives on short-time working arranged by the employer, and does not include time lost because of sickness, holidays or absenteeism.
NUMBER OF OPERATIVES ON SHORT TIME February 1975 … … 6,000 February 1976 … … 13,500* February 1977 … … 2,300* *Provisional. Information for February 1974 is not available.
§ Mr. Cowansasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will state the total number of job vacancies notified to his Department in the Northern Region; and what were the comparable figures for the nearest convenient date in each year from 1973 to 1976 inclusive;
(2) if he will give the figures for registered unemployed and unfilled vacancies in the Northern Region, respectively, for the latest month for which statistics are available in comparison with the levels for 1974, 1975 and 1976.
§ Mr. GoldingFollowing is the information:
The vacancy figures relate only to vacancies notified to employment offices and careers offices and are not a measure of total vacancies. Because of possible duplication the two series should not be added together.
Number of notified vacancies remaining unfilled at Employment offices at Careers offices Numbers registered as unemployed April: 1973 … 13,431 2,930 65,478 1974 … 13,275 4,987 59,396 1975 … 11,074 1,958 70,607 1976 … 7,797 1,078 91,817 1977 … 9,295 976 105,137