§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the numbers of school leavers registering for work at the end of the school year and the numbers remaining unemployed for each of the following six months since 1970.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 31 January 1980, c. 646]: The following table gives the numbers of school leavers under 18years of age registered as unemployed in Great Britain for August and each of the following six months for all of the years specified and, because of a change in the pattern of school leaving, also for July in each year from 1976. At the end of each school year, the figures may include some unemployed school leavers who had first registered at an earlier date.
The minimum school leaving age was raised to 16 from 1 September 1972. As a result, a much smaller number of pupils than usual were able to leave school in the Summer of 1975.
Changes between December and January include increases reflecting the 127W school leaving pattern in Scitland, where it is common to leave at Christmas.
128W
1970–71 August 36,322 September 20,696 October 9,933 November 5,386 December 3,821 January 5,508 February 4,501 1971–72 August 55,528 September 34,733 October 19,299 November 11,945 December 8,605 January 10,063 February 8,374 1972–73 August 60,933 September 41,987 October 23,228 November 13,378 December 9,745 January 9,071 February 6,608 1973–74 August 21,623 September 13,016 October 5,140 November 2,329 December 1,793 January 4,544 February 3,088 1974–75 August 55,976 September 33,426 October 13,413* November 8,026* December † January 8,000* February 8,351 1975–76 August 158,203 September 117,874 October 65,292 November 40,402 December 32,126 January 38,024 February 28,033 1976–77 July 199,372 August 194,545 September 142,301 October 77,960 November † December* 48,000 January 48,187 February 39,398 1977–78 July 241,552 August 220,377 September 166,156 October 92,602 November 68,579 December 54,349 January 57,425 February 46,634
1978–79 July 231,700 August 210,881 September 130,663 October 76,379 November 52,932 December 39,830 January 44,362 February 36,719 1979–80 July 204,225 August 173,071 September 105,986 September 64,025 November 45,529 December 35,712 January 42,423 * Estimated. † Not available. ‡ Provisional.