§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many operatives in manufacturing industries have been on short-time working in (a) Wolverhampton and (b) the West Midlands in each month since May 1979 to the latest convenient date.
§ Mr. Peter Morrison[pursuant to his reply, 6 July 1981]: The following is the available information for the West Midlands region. Statistics of short-time working are not available for Wolverhampton.
West Midlands Region Numbers of operatives on short-time working in manufacturing industries Week ended Stood off for whole or part of the week (Thousand) 1979 5 May 10.1 9 June 12.0 7 July 14.5 4 August 6.7 8 September 16.4 13 October 26.0 10 November 16.9 8 December 16.1 1980 12 January 21.6 16 February 25.0 15 March 41.3 19 April 32.7 17 May 40.3 14 June 48.3 12 July 57.0 16 August 78.0 13 September 99.9 11 October 120.3 15 November 149.5 13 December 117.7 1981* 14 March (latest available) 122.3 * From 1981 the regional statistics will be available only at the quarter months March, June, September and December.