§ Mr. Newensasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table to show the number of unemployed and the percentage which this represents of the total working population for each employment area in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, respectively, for present and for May 1979.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 8 August 1980, c. 403]: The following table gives the numbers registered as unemployed at 10 May 1979 and 10 July 1980 in each employment office area in the counties specified. It also gives the percentage rates of unemployment for employment office areas either singly or grouped into travel-to-work areas. The unemployment rates are based on the estimated numbers of employees—employed and unemployed—which differ from the working population in that they exclude the self-employed and members of Her Majesty's Forces.
157WWhere an employment office area is part of a travel-to-work area which straddles a county boundary it is shown
158W
May 1979 July 1980 Number Percentage rate Number Percentage rate Norfolk Cromer 660 8.2 732 8.7 Dereham 684 8.4 757 8.9 Diss 449 4.3 683 6.3 Downham Market 405 6.8 494 8.2 Fakenham 524 7.2 633 8.6 Great Yarmouth 2,694 7.2 2,120 5.7 Hunstanton 376 10.5 428 12.0 Kings Lynn 1,821 6.4 2,103 7.5 North Walsham 372 4.6 574 6.8 Norwich 4,562 6,304 Attleborough 292 4.1 357 5.5 Wymondham 298 357 Thetford 289 778 Swaffham 412 4.5 518 7.4 Brandon (Suffolk) 164 241 Suffolk Bury St Edmunds 877 3.2 1,184 4.2 Halesworth 276 6.6 247 6.0 Haverhill 319 3.1 709 6.7 Leiston 267 5.4 370 7.4 Lowestoft 1,602 5.7 2,292 7.8 Sudbury 486 3.8 833 6.3 Beccics 254 4.1 280 4.5 Bungay 142 174 Ipswich 2,673 4,114 Felixstowe 318 3.6 427 5.2 Stowmarket 408 546 Woodbridge 482 557 Newmarket 318 3.7 549 6.4 Mildenhall 270 458 Essex Clacton-on-Sea 1,497 8.4 1,772 9.6 Colchester 2,514 4.4 3,727 6.2 Harwich 296 3.5 311 3.5 Braintree 656 1,294 Halstead 197 3.4 259 5.7 Witham 346 428 Chelmsford 1,546 2,311 Burnham-on-Crouch 154 2.9 237 4.2 Malden 270 310 Harlow 1,417 2,669 Epping 242 3.0 338 5.3 Saffron Walden 138 223 Bishops Stortford (Herts) 403 666 Southend-on-Sea 3,768 5,452 Basildon 2,670 4,627 Canvey Island 517 741 Grays 1,721 5.6 2,755 8.7 Rayleigh 1,081 2,003 Stanford-le-Hope 530 618 Tilbury 682 800 Brentwood 864 * 1,447 * Loughton 691 * 1,174 * Hertfordshire Stevenage 1,318 3.4 2,141 5.4 Hertford 384 1.8 624 2.7 Hoddesdon 292 475 Hitchin 573 1,033 Letchworth 507 2.6 988 4.5 Royston 289 397 St Albans 578 1,177 Hatfield 432 1.8 483 2.9 Welwyn Garden City 573 1,034 in the table as being in the county in which the larger part of its travel-to-work area lies.
159W
May 1979 July 1980 Number Percentage rate Number Percentage rate Hertfordshire (Continued) Watford 1,142 1,914 Berkhamstead 217 2.3 267 3.4 Hemel Hempstead 1,316 1,856 Rickmansworth 144 178 Borehamwood 493 * 720 * Waltham Cross 772 * 1,094 * Cambridgeshire Cambridge 2,056 2.4 3,038 3.5 Ely 441 4.6 415 4.3 Huntingdon 847 3.7 1,611 6.5 March 411 5.1 640 7.8 Peterborough 3,399 5.0 5,071 7.4 St Neots 348 3.2 405 3.7 Wisbech 1,132 7.4 1,334 8.3 * Unemployment rates are not calculated for these areas; they are parts of the Greater London travel-to-work area. Note: The July 1980 figures are not comparable with those for May 1979 because: (i) they include considerable numbers of school leavers not present in the May 1979 figures. (ii) they are affected by the introduction, in September 1979, of fortnightly attendance and payment of benefit. Estimates of this effect are not available for local areas but for the country as a whole the monthly unemployment figures are about 20,000, or 1½ per cent higher than under weekly attendance.