§ Mr. Formanasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many people and what percentage of the total registered unemployed were accounted for by (a) women, (b) people under 25 years of age, (c) people over 50 years of age and (d) people with no formal qualifications in each year from 1964 to the present date;
(2) if he will set out in tabular form the officially recorded figures in the United Kingdom on a seasonally adjusted basis of those unemployed (a) for over six months and (b) for over 12 months in June 1964 and every succeeding year to June 1984; what percentage of the total unemployed these figures represented in each case; and what is the annual percentage increase or decrease in each of these categories as a proportion of the total unemployed in each year in comparison with the previous one.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkI shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Formanasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will set out in tabular form the officially recorded unemployment figures for the United Kingdom on a seasonally adjusted basis in June 1964 and every succeeding year to June 1984; what percentage of all employees these figures represented in each case; and what is the annual percentage increase or decrease in each year in comparison with the previous one.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkThe following table gives the available information.
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Unemployment, seasonally adjusted excluding school leavers at June each year—United Kingdom Registered unemployed Number (thousand) Rate (per cent.) Chang over the year (per cent.) Registered unemployed 1964 397.5 1.7 -27.8 1965 346.8 1.4 -12.8 1966 328.2 1.4 -5.4 1967 546.9 2.3 +66.6 1968 584.5 2.5 +6.9 1969 559.5 2.4 -4.3 1970 600.8 2.6 +7.4 1971 769.5 3.4 +28.0 Claimant unemployed 1971 766.3 3.4 .. 1972 845.7 3.7 + 10.4 1973 629.1 2.7 -25.6 1974 602.1 2.6 -4.3 1975 905.2 3.8 +50.3 1976 1,252.0 5.3 +38.3 1977 1,330.3 5.5 +6.3 1978 1,326.2 5.5 -0.3 1979 1,232.7 5.1 -7.1 1980 1,468.8 6.0 +19.2 1981 2,417.4 10.0 +64.6 1982 2,772.7 11.5 +14.7 1983 2,967.7 12.3 +7.0 1984(p) 3,036.2 12.6 +2.3 .. Not available. (p) Provisional. The comparisons over the period 1982 to 1984 are affected by the 1983 Budget provisions which enabled men aged 60 and over to receive the long term rate of supplementary benefit and national insurance credits without having to sign on. Between March and August 1983 an estimated 161,800 men no longer included in the figures.
§ Mr. Formanasked the Secretary of State for Employment how much public money was spent on assistance of all kinds to the registered unemployed in each year since 1964 to the present date in current and at constant prices.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkThe amount spent on assistance of all kinds, which would include a wide variety of special measures, redundancy payments and so on, is not readily available and could be calculated only at disproportionate cost. However, the annual expenditure on unemployment benefit and supplementary benefit since 1964 at current and constant prices is as follows:
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Total of unemployment benefit and supplementary benefit paid in £ million in: Year ending 5 April (a) Current terms (b) Constant prices 1964 101 632.5 1965 74 445.3 1966 76 436.5 1967 109 603.5 1968 184 996.0 1969 200 1,025.4 1970 204 994.8 1971 241 1096–5 1972 388 1,615.8 1973 391 1,520.1 1974 333 1,172.4 1975 433 1,292.5 1976 855 2,047.9 1977 1,149 2,388.1 1978 1,369 2,495.4 1979 1,337 2,250.9
Total of unemployment benefit and supplementary benefit paid in £ million in: Year ending 5 April (a) Current terms (b) Constant prices 1980 1,418 2,061.1 1981 2,465 3,080.3 1982 4,002 4,485.7 1983 5,050 5,286.8 1984 5,996 5,996.0 NotePrior to the year ending 1983 assistance with housing costs was paid with supplementary benefit. The figures for the last two years have been adjusted to make them comparable with the earlier years.