§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the number and percentage of registered unemployed in the Manchester travel-to-work area, and the number of vacancies for the latest available month and for the same month of each preceding year back to and including 1970; and if he will break down the unemployment figures according to sex and, where possible, age, including those unemployed aged 18 years and under, and, if the figures are available, unemployed according to ethnic origin for those aged 21 years and under and 18 years and under.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 11 February 1980, c. 362]: Table 1 gives
TABLE 1 Unfilled vacancies Registered unemployed At employment offices At careers offices Numbers Percentage rates Males Females Total Males Females Total January 1970 … .. .. 16,474 .. .. 2.3 5,850 1,657 January 1971 … .. .. 18,218 .. .. 2.6 4,729 1,469 January 1972 … .. .. 29,894 .. .. 4.3 2,770 1,004 January 1973 … .. .. 27,657 .. .. 4.1 3,628 1,178 January 1974 … .. .. 19,271 .. .. 2.7 5,717 2,292 January 1975 … .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. January 1976 … .. .. 37,249 .. .. 5.3 1,895 728 January 1977 … 33,349 8,033 41,382 7.9 2.9 5.9 .. 423 January 1978 … 34,660 9,979 44,639 8.2 3.6 6.4 3,524 339 January 1979 … 31,230 9,328 40,558 7.4 3.3 5.7 5,050 616 January 1980 … 31,035 10,234 41,269 7.3 3.6 5.8 4,338 672 The vacancy statistics relate only to those notified to employment offices and careers offices; vacancies notified to employment offices are estimated to be about one-third all vacancies in the country as a whole. Because of possible duplication the two series should not be added together. The unemployment figures for January 1980 may be affected by the introduction, in September 1979, of fortnightly attendance and payment of benefit. Estimates are not available for individual local areas, but for the country as a whole, the figures are about 1½ per cent. higher than they would have been under weekly attendance.
TABLE 2 January 1979 January 1980 Males Females Total Males Females Total Aged under 18 … 1,712 1,310 3,022 1,606 1,357 2,963 18 … … … 1,332 807 2,139 1,074 884 1,958 19 … … … 1,325 666 1,991 1,413 888 2,301 20–24 … … 5,393 2,301 7,694 5,748 2,588 8,336 25–29 … … 4,048 1,112 5,160 3,952 1,299 5,251 30–34 … … 3,323 629 3,952 3,156 659 3,815 35–44 … … 4,591 886 5,477 4,589 867 5,456 45–49 … … 2,149 431 2,580 1,974 492 2,466 50–54 … … 2,124 536 2,660 2,144 501 2,645 55–59 … … 2,251 625 2,876 2,368 661 3,029 60–64 … … 2,870 25 2,895 2,917 38 2,955 65 and over … 112 — 112 94 — 94 Total, All Ages 31,230 9,328 40,558 31,035 10,234 41,269