§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people were employed in the construction industry at the latest convenient date; and how this compares with the numbers for the previous seven years.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 10 March 1980]: The following table gives, for Great Britain, the numbers of employees in employment in the construction industry at December each year from 1972 to 1979.
Thousand December 1972 1,294 December 1973 1,331 December 1974 1,250 December 1975 1,286 December 1976 1,255 December 1977* 1,232 December 1978* 1,247 December 1979* 1,273 * provisional
§ 136. Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people were registered as being unemployed construction workers at the latest convenient date; and how this figure compares with each of the previous seven years.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 10 March 1980]: The following table gives the numbers of people registered as unemployed in Great Britain who last 497W worked in the construction industry at February each year from 1973 to 1980.
February 1973 108,815 February 1974 112,923 February 1975 144,201 February 1976 221,742 February 1977 227,443 February 1978 221,817 February 1979 205,036 February 1980* 192,597 * The February 1980 figure is not strictly comparable with those for previous years because of the introduction, in September 1979, of fortnightly attendance and payment of benefit. This had the effect of raising the monthly figure for all unemployed in Great Britain by about 20,000, that is, about 1½ per cent. Estimates by industry are not available.