HC Deb 23 February 1984 vol 54 cc610-1W
Mr. Pawsey

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many jobs were lost in 1983 in the textile, clothing, shoe, ceramic, hand tool, luggage, and other industries.

Mr. Alan Clark

Information about job losses and job gains is not available from the Department's statistics, but an indication of the net changes can be seen by comparing the levels of employees in employment at different dates. The following table gives, for Great Britain, the provisional changes in the numbers of employees in employment between December 1982 and December 1983.

Figures are given for textiles, clothing, footwear and ceramic goods as defined by the 1980 standard industrial classification. Separate statistics for hand tools and luggage are not available.

Change December 1982—December 1983
Changes
Textiles (SIC class 43) -1,700
Changes
Clothing, hats and gloves and fur goods (SIC groups 453 and 456) + 2,300
Footwear (SIC group 451) + 1,300
Ceramic goods (SIC AH 2489) + 1,900