§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many jobs will be lost if output falls by (a) 0–5 per cent. (b) 1.0 per cent. (c) 1.5 per cent. (d) 2 per cent. (e) 3 per cent. (f) 4 per cent. and (g) 5 per cent.; and what percentage of men and women at present in paid employment this represents in each case.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 11 March 1980, c. 342–43]: The response of employment and hence unemployment to a fall in output depends crucially on which sectors of the economy suffer the reductions in output. In any case, the relationships between unemployment-employment-output have become particularly uncertain in recent years and the estimated response would be subject to very wide margins of error.