HC Deb 05 April 1982 vol 21 cc229-30W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number of jobs lost in manufacturing since May 1979 compared to the total number of jobs lost.

Mr. Alison

Precise information about job gains and job losses is not available, but an indication of the net effect can be seen by comparing the levels of employees in employment at different dates. Between June 1979 and September 1981, the latest date for which the quarterly estimate for total employment is available, the numbers of employees in employment in Great Britain in manufacturing industries decreased by 1,210,000. The corresponding decrease for total employees in employment was 1,843,000. The figures on which the decreases are based are provisional and are seasonally adjusted.

Information is given in the table following for those wages councils which are estimated to have more than 100,000 workers within their field of operation.

The minimum rates set by other wages councils, and other rates set by the wages councils listed, are contained in the wages orders issued by each wages council. Copies of those orders are available in the House of Commons Library.