§ Mr. Concannonasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people are presently out of work in Northern Ireland; and what proportion of the total working population that unemployment figure represents.
§ Mr. Adam Butler:A total of 112,224 people were registered as unemployed on 8 October 1981, the latest date for which figures are available. This represents 17.2 per cent. of the total working population, which comprises the employees in employment, the unemployed and the self-employed.
However, unemployment rates are normally calculated by taking the registered unemployed as a percentage of employees in employment plus the unemployed. On this basis the unemployment rate on 8 October 1981 stood at 19.5 per cent.
§ Mr. Concannonasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish in the Official Report the annual percentage rate of unemployment in Northern 383W Ireland for each of the years 1975 to 1980 inclusive, and add to that table the available quarterly unemployment percentages for 1981.
§ Mr. Adam Butler:The information is as follows:
1975 7.8 1976 10.0 1977 11.0 1978 11.5 1979 11.3 1980 13.7 1981 1st quarter 17.3 2nd quarter 17.6 3rd quarter 19.2