HC Deb 14 April 1978 vol 947 cc544-6W
Mr. John Evans

asked the Secretary of State for Employment which member countries of the Common Market include migrant workers in their unemployment statistics.

Mr. Golding

All EEC countries include in their unemployment statistics any foreign workers resident in the country who are unemployed at the date of the count.

Mr. John Evans

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if the unemployment statistics of each member country of the Common Market are measured on a comparable basis; and, if not, what are the major differences in the compilation of statistics.

Mr. Beith

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what statistically significant differences there are between the United Kingdom and Great Britain's major industrial competitors in the methods used to calculate unemployment figures.

Mr. Golding

Most EEC countries base their unemployment statistics on the numbers registered at employment offices; but certain other major industrial countries—United States, Canada and Japan—estimate unemployment from sample surveys of the labour force, and as a result include any unregistered unemployed. Irrespective of system, however, there are differences between countries in coverage or treatment with regard to, for example, age limits, people temporarily suspended from work, students, first-time job seekers, those who were formerly self-employed, and the length of time unemployed before being counted. Moreover, where registration is used, there are differences in administrative procedures and insurance regulations which may affect the proportion of the unemployed who are registered or counted.

Most countries publish rates of unemployment, obtained by expressing the number unemployed as a percentage of a labour force total. The latter may variously be taken to be the total number of employees—employed and unemployed—the civilian labour force, or the total number insured under national insurance schemes. The complex nature of the differences of practice is illustrated in some detail in an article on international unemployment comparisons in the July 1976 issue of the Department of Employment Gazette. Some changes in method have occured since the article was prepared. Attempts have been made to estimate unemployment rates for different countries on a comparable basis—by the United States Bureau of Labour Statistics and the OECD—but these are necessarily difficult and such comparisons can serve only as approximate guides.