§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for-Employment how many women were registered as unemployed at the latest available date; how this compares with the figure for May 1979; and what estimate he has of the numbers of women seeking work but not registered as unemployed.
§ Mr. AlisonAt 14 January 1982, the total number of women registered as unemployed in the United Kingdom, seasonally adjusted and excluding school leavers, was 779,000. The corresponding figure for May 1979 was 384,900.
It is estimated that in 1979, the latest year for which complete information is available, about a quarter of a million women were seeking work but were not registered as unemployed. Many of these women were looking for part-time work only. Later information from the general household survey suggests that the numbers may have been similar in 1980. These survey estimates have a degree of uncertainty reflecting sampling errors and other survey difficulties, and are not necessarily representative of the position in 1981–82.