§ Mrs Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Employment, (1) how many factory closures have there been since May 1979 in (a) Wolverhampton and (b) the West Midlands; and how many jobs have been lost in each area;
(2) how many workers have been made redundant since May 1979 in (a) Wolverhampton and (b) the West Midlands to the latest available date;
(3) how many factory closures are pending and how many jobs are involved in (a) Wolverhampton and (b) the West Midlands at the latest available date.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThere are no comprehensive statistics of closures, job losses or redundancies. The available information on closures and redundancies, involving 10 or more employees, reported to the Manpower Services Commission as due to occur in the requested areas is given in the following table.
The vacancy figures relate only to those notified to employment offices which are estimated to be about one-third of all vacancies in the economy as a whole. The number of vacancies unfilled at a particular date takes no account of the flow of vacancies being notified, filled or withdrawn which would reflect activity more closely. For example, during the 12-month period to December 1981, 81, 625 people were placed in jobs by employment offices in the West Midlands region. It is estimated that the public employment service accounts for about one in four of all placings.
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West Midlands Region Wolverhampton employment office Unemployed Unfilled vacancies Unemployed Unfilled vacancies Painting, repetitive assembling, product inspecting, packaging and related 20, 457 169 1, 036 7 Construction, mining and related not elsewhere classified 17, 325 158 876 6 Transport operating, materials moving and storing and related 32, 316 168 1, 463 4 Miscellaneous (including general labourers) 75, 577 190 3, 240 3 Total 313, 793 6, 154 15, 064 167