HC Deb 27 July 1981 vol 9 cc305-6W
Mr. Thomas Cox

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many unfilled job vacancies were registered at jobcentres covering the Greater London council area on 1 July; and of those, how many covered (a) skilled workers, (b) semi-skilled workers and (c) unskilled workers.

Mr. Peter Morrison

The precise information is not available as there is no comprehensive analysis made of the numbers of vacancies according to skill requirements. However, an occupational analysis of notified unfilled vacancies is made at employment offices and the following table gives this information by six broad groups for Greater London at 5 June.

Unfilled vacancies at employment offices
Managerial and professonal 2,856
Clerical and related 3,835
Other non-manual occupations 2,711
Craft and similar occupations, including foremen, in processing, production, repairing, etc. 2,423
General labourers 280
Other manual occupations 6,298
Total, all occupations 18,403

The statistics relate only to vacancies notified to employment offices and it is estimated that these account for about one-third of all vacancies in the economy as a whole. The number of vacancies unfilled at a particular date takes no account of the flow of vacancies being notified, filled or withdrawn during the preceding month, which would reflect activity more closely.