HC Deb 24 July 1978 vol 954 cc573-5W
Mr. John Moore

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for the EEC as a whole, for each present member State of the EEC, the United States of America and Japan in (a) each year since 1970 and (b) each quarter since 1974, the percentage unemployment rate.

Germany France Italy Netherlands Belgium Luxembourg
1974 … 2.2 2.3 5.2 2.9 3.2 0.0
1975 … 4.2 3.9 5.7 4.1 5.3 0.2
1976 … 4.1 4.3 6.0 4.4 6.8 0.3
1977 … 4.0 4.9 7.0 4.3 7.8 0.6
1976—
First quarter … 5.0 4.5 6.3 4.9 6.3 0.3
Second quarter … 3.8 3.9 5.9 4.1 6.1 0.3
Third quarter … 3.6 4.0 5.9 4.4 7.4 0.2
Fourth quarter … 3.9 4.8 6.1 4.4 7.3 0.4
1977—
First quarter … 4.6 4.8 6.7 4.6 7.3 0.5
Second quarter … 3.8 4.5 6.6 3.9 7.0 0.4
Third quarter … 3.7 5.0 7.4 4.3 8.5 0.6
Fourth quarter … 4.0 5.4 7.6 4.4 8.6 0.8
1978—
First quarter … 4.6 5.1 7.9 4.5 8.2 0.9

United Kingdom Ireland Denmark Total EEC United States of America Japan
1974 … 2.4 6.3 2.0 2.9 5.6 1.4
1975 … 3.8 8.8 4.6 4.4 8.5 1.9
1976 … 5.3 9.8 4.7 5.0 7.7 2.0
1977 … 5.8 9.7 5.9 5.4 7.1 2.0
1976—
First quarter … 5.1 10.1 5.5 5.3 8.5 2.4
Second quarter … 5.1 9.7 4.2 4.7 7.4 2.0
Third quarter … 5.7 9.6 4.3 4.9 7.6 1.9
Fourth quarter … 5.3 9.8 5.2 5.1 7.3 1.8

Mr. Golding

Unemployment percentage rates for these periods for which full information is available are given below. I shall arrange for figures for the remaining periods to be published in theOfficial Report as soon as possible. The figures are based on national definitions and are not comparable between countries owing to differences in the concept of unemployment, coverage and method of compilation.

1977—
First quarter … 5.6 10.2 6.4 5.5 8.2 2.3
Second quarter … 5.5 9.6 5.6 5.1 6.9 2.0
Third quarter … 6.3 9.4 5.5 5.6 6.8 1.9
Fourth quarter … 5.8 9.4 6.3 5.7 6.2 1.9
1978—
First quarter … 5.9 9.8 7.6 5.9 6.8 2.5

Sources:

(1) EEC countries, Statistical Office of the European Communities. The rates are partially standardised and based on national statistics of registered unemployed expressed as percentages of the civilian labour force.

(2) United States and Japan, OECD Main Economic Indicators. The rates are obtained by expressing the number of unemployed as percentages of the civilian labour force obtained from labour force surveys.