§ 38. Mr. Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the latest number of former construction workers registered as unemployed; and how this figure compares with the equivalent month in 1973, 1976 and 1979, respectively.
§ Mr. Jim LesterAt 8 May 1980, the latest date for which information is available, there were 189,554 people registered as unemployed in Great Britain who last worked in the construction industry. The corresponding figures for May in each of the years 1973, 1976 and 1979 were 90,147, 206,562 and 160,012, respectively. The May 1980 figure is not strictly comparable with those for the earlier years because of the introduction, in September 1979, of fortnightly attendance and payment of benefit. This had the effect of raising the monthly figures for all unemployed in Great Britain by about 20,000 or 1½ per cent. Estimates of this effect by industry are not available.