§ Mr. Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish figures to show, at the latest available date, the percentage unemployment rate for each travel-to-work area in Scotland.
§ Mr. Allan StewartThe information requested as at 14 June 1984, the latest date for which information is available, is given in the following table.
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Travel-to-work area Unemployment percentage rate Dingwall 22.7 Fort William 15.9 Inverness 11.3 Nairn 15.8 Portree 19.1 Thurso 13.0 Wick 14.2 Lerwick 5.5 Kirkwall 10.6 Stornoway 20.0 Aberdeen 6.6 Banff 8.7 Buckie 14.3 Elgin 11.3 Forres 21.1 Fraserburgh 11.6 Huntly 9.8 Peterhead 11.3 Arbroath 20.7 Blairgowrie 15.4 Dundee 15.9 Forfar 10.6 Montrose 10.3 Perth 9.1 Dunfermline 13.8 Kirdcaldy 13.7 Anstruther 20.5 Cupar 9.8 St. Andrews 8.1 Glasgow 16.2 Dumbarton 19.7 Greenock 18.3 Paisley 15.8 Lanark 18.1 North Lanarkshire 19.9 Ayr 15.2 Cumnock 18.0 Girvan 17.6 Irvine 22.1 Kilmarnock 16.0 Rothesay 19.2 Campbeltown 16.8 Dunoon 12.9 Lochgilphead 11.4 Oban 9.9 Edinburgh 11.2 Bathgate 18.9 Haddington 8.0 Falkirk 16.7 Stirling 13.8
Travel-to-work area Unemployment percentage rate Dumfries 11.4 Castle Douglas 12.2 Newton Stewart 16.3 Sanquhar 16.4 Stranraer 15.0 Eyemouth 9.6 Galashiels 7.0 Hawick 8.1 Kelso 10.2 Peebles 9.8
§ Mr. Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many school leavers in Scotland were registered unemployed in January of each of the following years: (a) 1970, (b) 1974, (c) 1978, (d) 1980, (e) 1982, (f) 1983 and (g) 1984, respectively.
§ Mr. Allan StewartThe following table shows for school leavers aged under 18 in Scotland the number registered as unemployed at January 1970 and 1974 and the number unemployed and claiming benefit at January of each of the years from 1978 to 1984. The registrant-based figures are not directly comparable with the claimant-based figures for more recent years.
School leavers registered as unemployed Numbers 1970 1,400 1974 2,800
Unemployed school leavers claiming benefit Numbers 1978 13,511 1980 11,474 1982 21,942 1983 25,278 1984 23,624
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what has been the average rate of unemployment in Scotland in percentage terms for each of the last 10 years to date in comparison to the average rate of unemployment in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively.
§ Mr. Allan Stewart[pursuant to his reply, 9 July 1984, c. 393]: The following table shows for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland the annual average rate of unemployed people claiming benefit for the period 1974–83 inclusive. The figures for the years up to 1982 are estimates only as the unemployment count was registrant-based until October 1982.
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Unemployed persons claiming benefit Average annual unemployment rates Scotland England Wales Northern Ireland 1974* 3.8 2.3 3.7 5.4 1975 5.0 3.7 5.5 7.4 1976 6.7 5.1 7.1 9.5 1977 7.7 5.4 7.6 10.5 1978 7.7 5.2 7.7 11.0 1979 7.4 4.8 7.3 10.7 1980 9.1 6.3 9.4 12.8 1981 12.4 9.8 13.5 16.8 1982 14.0 11.5 15.4 18.7 1983 14.9 12.3 15.9 20.2 * The figures for 1974 are calculated over nine months as comparable figures of unemployed claimants are available only from April of that year.