§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will seek the advice of industrial companies with experience in the employment of young people with a view to promoting new initiatives for dealing with youth unemployment.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe Government already receive advice from industrial companies, both from those directly participating in the youth opportunities programme and from the CBI which is encouraging sponsorship under the programme.
§ Mr. Canavanasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many 16 to 19-year-olds are 358W unemployed in England and Wales; what is that figure expressed as a percentage of the total population in that age group; and what are the corresponding statistics for other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.
§ Mr. Peter Morrison[pursuant to his reply, 23 June 1981, c. 9]: At April 1981 there were 33,566 16 to 19-year-olds unemployed in England and Wales; this represented 10.9 per cent. of the total population in that age group,including those still in education and others not in the labour force.
Corresponding data for this age group are available only for the United States, although the unemployment figures are different in coverage and concepts from those compiled here. For the fourth quarter of 1980, there were 1,553,000 unemployed in the United States aged 16 to 19, representing 7.4 per cent. of the total population in that age group; the figures for that period for England and Wales (based on the average for October 1980 and January 1981) were 374,000 and 12 per cent.
For other member countries of the OECD, the available fie appgures for young people relate to varying age groups. Unemployment figures are given in the quarterly "Labour Force Statistics", published by the OECD; population figures are given in the "Year Book of Labour Statistics 1980", published by the ILO. Copies of these publications are in the House of Commons Library.