§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for Employment what were the number of redundancies in the area covered by the city of Manchester announced since the beginning of 1980; what are the numbers in prospect; and if he will publish comparable figures for each of the past 11 years.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe number of workers involved in redundancies of 10 or more confirmed as due to occur in the city of Manchester in 1980 is 9,079. Comparable figures are only available irom 1977. These are as follows:
Employees 1977 2,295 1978 1,849 1979 3,102 The numbers of workers involved in redundancies so far confirmed as due to occur in the city of Manchester during 1981 is 1,725.
This information is obtained at or before the beginning of a redundancy, and the actual numbers made redundant may therefore vary from any initial record as a result of negotiations with trade unions, applications under the short-time working compensation scheme or some other reason.
§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for Employment what were the numbers and percentages of unemployed in the area covered by the city of Manchester for the latest available month; and what were the comparable figures for the same months in each of the previous 11 years.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe following table gives for February each year from 1970 the numbers of people registered as unemployed and percentage rates of unemployment in the Manchester travel-to-work area.
February each year Number Percentage rate 1970 16,772 2.3 1971 18,583 2.6 1972 30,914 4.5 1973 25,540 3.8 1974 19,545 2.8 1975 23,612 3.3 1976 36,835 5.2 1977 40,545 5.8 1978 44,346 6.3 1979 41,320 5.8 1980 42,648 6.0 1981* 73,994 10.3 * Provisional.