§ Mr. Alexander W. Lyonasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many unemployed (a) men and (b) women and (c) young people aged between 16 and 25 years there were in York in May 1979 and on the last convenient date; and how many have been unemployed for more than (i) six months, (ii) 12 months and (iii) two years.
§ Mr. AlisonI will reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on how the new method of compiling unemployment statistics will lead to the more accurate count of the unemployed referred to in his Department's press notice published on 18 November.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe unemployment count is more accurate for two reasons. First, the old figures were affected by the fact that jobcentres often only discovered some time after unemployment benefit offices that people had found work. Second, the use of computers enables the figures to be more up to date by taking into account later information about the position of individuals on the day of the count. This later information, based on carefully tested and working systems, could not be used economically under the old system of manual counts in hundreds of offices throughout the country.
In October, the net effect of these factors made the new count 108,000 lower, the remainder of the reduction coming from the unavoidable changes in coverage.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish unemployment figures for 1979 and each succeeding year, using the statistical system he announced on 18 November.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe following table shows the numbers of unemployed on the new claimants basis in the United Kingdom on an unadjusted and seasonally adjusted basis:
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United Kingdom Unemployment* January 1979 to October 1982 Unadjusted including school leavers Seasonally adjusted excluding school leavers Number (thousands) Percentage of all employees Number (thousands) Percentage of all employees 1979 January 1,372.8 5.7 1,271.2 5.3 February 1,369.2 5.7 1,293.8 5.4 March 1,320.3 5.5 1,289.3 5.3 April 1,260.9 5.2 1,253.4 5.2 May 1,218.9 5.0 1,253.5 5.2 June 1,234.5 5.1 1,232.7 5.1 July 1,347.3 5.6 1,227.0 5.1 August 1,344.9 5.6 1,213.9 5.0 September 1,292.3 5.4 1,211.8 5.0 October 1,267.5 5.2 1,222.3 5.1 November 1,258.7 5.2 1,215.8 5.0 December 1,260.9 5.2 1,224.2 5.1 1980 January 1,373.7 5.7 1,249.4 5.2 February 1,388.6 5.8 1,289.7 5.4 March 1,375.6 5.7 1,321.2 5.5 April 1,418.1 5.9 1,367.5 5.7
Unadjusted including school leavers Seasonally adjusted excluding school leavers Number (thousands) Percentage of all employees Number (thousands) Percentage of all employees May 1,404.4 5.8 1,413.5 5.9 June 1,513.0 6.3 1,468.8 6.1 July 1,736.5 7.2 1,535.2 6.4 August 1,846.1 7.7 1,631.3 6.8 September 1,890.6 7.9 1,713.1 7.1 October 1,916.4 8.0 1,806.7 7.5 November 2,016.0 8.4 1,918.9 8.0 December 2,099.9 8.7 2,014.4 8.4 1981 January 2,271.1 9.6 2,094.0 8.9 February 2,312.4 9.8 2,166.0 9.2 March 2,333.5 9.9 2,238.1 9.5 April 2,372.7 10.1 2,301.1 9.8 May 2,407.4 10.2 2,368.0 10.0 June 2,395.2 10.2 2,417.4 10.2 July 2,511.8 10.6 2,476.5 10.5 August 2,586.3 11.0 2,514.2 10.7 September 2,748.6 11.7 2,554.6 10.8 October 2,771.6 11.7 2,582.8 10.9 November 2,769.5 11.7 2,615.5 11.1 December 2,764.1 11.7 2,629.0 11.1 1982 January 2,896.3 12.4 2,670.5 11.5 February 2,870.2 12.3 2,679.8 11.5 March 2,820.8 12.1 2,687.9 11.5 April 2,818.5 12.1 2,715.1 11.7 May 2,800.5 12.0 2,739.8 11.8 June 2,769.6 11.9 2,772.7 11.9 July 2,852.5 12.2 2,813.8 12.1 August 2,898.8 12.4 2,832.4 12.2 September 3,066.2 13.2 2,866.4 12.3 October 3,049.0 13.1 2,886.1 12.4 Notes: * New basis (claimants)
The figures incorporate estimates for Great Britain prior to May 1982 and for Northern Ireland for all dates.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if, in view of his statement on 18 November on unemployment statistics, he is proposing changes in the method of compiling local statistics, or changing the boundaries of travel-to-work areas.
§ Mr. WaddingtonIn addition to the factors which affect the national unemployment figures, local figures, and consequently travel-to-work area figures, will be affected by some additional technical factors. No change has been made in boundaries of travel-to-work areas. However, whereas figures for local employment office—jobcentre—areas have been based on the number of people registered at the jobcentre, under the new system local figures will relate to unemployed claimants who live in the employment office area. In order that this area allocation can be achieved economically, use will be made of post-code information for each claimant's address, though an element of approximation is involved.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment how quickly the staff savings will be effected consequent upon the revision in the method of calculation of the unemployment statistics he announced on 18 November; how many of the 1,350 staff places to be cut will be offset by transfers to other jobs in the Civil Service; and what will be the net job losses.
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§ Mr. WaddingtonAll 1,350 staff savings will have been made by 1 October 1983. All the staff displaced will be absorbed by transfers elsewhere in the Civil Service or by the process of natural wastage. There will be a net job loss of 1,350 in the Department of Employment group as a consequence of voluntary registration and the revised method of calculation of unemployment statistics.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will continue to inform the House of the actual numbers of people in the United Kingdom who are unemployed as distinct from those who are claiming benefit.
§ Mr. WaddingtonEstimates of the number of unemployed people not claiming benefit will be made from household surveys. This information will be made available in the same way that estimates of the unregistered unemployed have been until now.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will ensure that material published by his Department which refers to numbers of unemployed makes clear that the reference is to claimants for benefit.
§ Mr. WaddingtonMaterial published by my Department referring to unemployment will clearly indicate whether the information is based on the new series of claimants or the old series of registrations.