§ Mr. McTaggartasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what have been the numbers unemployed in(a) Glasgow and (b) Scotland on a monthly basis from March 1970 to March 1983.
§ Mr. Alexander Fletcher[pursuant to his reply, 29 April 1983, c. 450]: The information requested is published monthly in the Department of Employment Gazette. The published figures for the Glasgow travel-to-work area over the period are not strictly comparable however because of changes in definition of the area over the years. For convenience the table shows the number of unemployed registrants—the old basis of the count—in the area covered by the current Glasgow travel-to-work area and Scotland for March of each year from 1970–1982 together with the number of unemployed claimants—the 137W new basis of the count—in these areas at March 1983. To put the figures for Glasgow onto a comparable basis for every month since March 1970 would involve disproportionate cost.
Unemployment in the Glasgow travel-to-work area* and Scotland at March 1970 to March 1983 Glasgow Scotland March 1970†‡ 27,580 91,284 March 1971†‡ 37,234 122,379 March 1972†‡ 49,550 152,743 March 1973‡ 39,013 113,826 March 1974‡ 30,237 89,658 March 1975‡ 31,614 98,756 March 1976 43,409 145,128 March 1977 53,734 175,447 March 1978 57,364 191,038 March 1979 52,081 182,997 March 1980 59,968 200,124 March 1981 83,999 287,243 March 1982 95,919 333,050 March 1983║ 96,049 341,502 Notes: * The Glasgow travel-to-work area comprises the employment offices within Glasgow city, together with Barrhead, Clydebank, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch employment office areas. † These figures include temporarily stopped workers until November 1972. ‡These figures include adult students registered for vocational employment until March 1976. ║ The figures for March 1983 are not comparable with those of previous years because of the change to a claimant based count.