§ 18. Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the latest unemployment figures for Northern Ireland; and if he will give the number of unemployed aged under 21 years.
§ Mr. Adam ButlerOn 12 February 1981, 99,849 people were registered as unemployed in Northern Ireland. The monthly unemployment statistics do not show separately people aged under 21. The figure for February 1981 for unemployed people under 20 was 20,556.
The Government are maintaining their efforts to reduce unemployment in Northern Ireland by support for 375W industrial and commercial development and to alleviate the problem in the short term by means of assistance to the unemployed through special employment programmes.