§ Mr. Cryerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the cost of unemployment pay and loss of tax receipts for a married man earning £80 per week made redundant.
§ Mr. Parkasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he makes of the average cost to the Exchequer in terms of benefits paid out and tax and national insurance revenue foregone, of each additional (a) male and (b) female adult made unemployed who remain unemployed for 12 months.
§ Mr. BrittanFebruary's economic progress report gave estimates of the cost to the Exchequer of an increase in registered unemployment. The level of earnings assumed was £4,320, or slightly over £80 per week, and the cost to the Exchequer in 1980–81 was estimated at £3,500 per additional unemployed person. This figure 43W excludes redundancy payments, but a note at the end of the article explained that the average payment from the redundancy fund for the first three quarters of 1980 was £400.
This estimate was for an average of increase in unemployment: estimates for a married man made redundant would clearly differ. I regret, however, that I cannot provide an answer for the cost of this specific individual without making further assumptions as to his characteristics.