HC Deb 18 June 1981 vol 6 cc436-8W
Mr. Michael McNair-Wilson

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will break down the total unemployment figure in terms of persons who have become unemployed after working in (a) the public sector, (b) private industry, (c) local authorities and (d) any other categories which seem relevant; and if he will give the figures for the same period in 1980.

Mr. Peter Morrison

The precise information for the public and private sectors is not available. The numbers of people registered as unemployed are allocated to the industry in which they last worked. The analysis does not distinguish ownership where both the public and private sectors operate within an industry.

Estimates can be made by allocating the whole of an industry either to the public or the private sector. These are given for Great Britain in the following table.

Numbers unemployed
May 1980 May 1981
Public Sector
Education Services 26,743 39,140
Medical and Dental Services 24,438 33,005
National Government Service 28,364 38,191
Local Government Service 48,659 67,284
Total, Central and Local Government 128,204 177,620
Remainder of public sector 103,832 157,670
Total, public sector 232,036 335,290
Private Sector
Total, private sector 944,541 1,701,894
January February March April May
South Glamorgan 637 503 288 419 1,169
Mid Glamorgan 1,227 1,019 1,984 311 381
West Glamorgan 1,868 2,737 4,001 515 482
Gwent 1,759 2,036 1,031 492 588
Dyfed 512 1,592 486 895 333
Powys 86 126 435 28 210
Clwyd 1,465 655 862 347 1,011
Gwyneed 482 484 180 151 167
8,036 9,152 9,262 3,158 4,341

These figures are not a true measure of the number of actual redundancies since many redundancies do not in fact take place—for example, because of a subsequent application under the temporary short-time working compensation scheme—and there is no statutory requirement to notify my Department when proposed redundancies do not take place.

January February March April May
South Glamorgan 474 418 593 *330 *291
Mid Glamorgan 691 562 760 *427 *535
West Glamorgan 531 218 1,037 *1,851 *761
Gwent 700 735 1,521 *326 *377
Dyfed 297 307 737 *799 *1,630
Powys 41 12
Clwyd 652 571 256 *260 *387
Gwynedd 74 126 73 *37 *40
3,460 2,949 4,977 *4,030 *4,021
* provisional.

Note: Figures for February 1981 or later are not fully comparable with those for January 1981 and earlier because of improvements in data collection designed to secure a better coverage of reported redundancies which are actually expected o take place.

Both sets of figures are for redundancies involving 10 or more employees.

Numbers unemployed
May 1980 May 1981
Not classified by industry (including school leavers) 264,812 419,699
Total, all industries and services 1,441,389 2,456,883