§ Mr. Pawseyasked the Secretary of State for Employment what account has been taken of the extent to which new job opportunities in the Hinckley area will help solve the unemployment problems facing Coventry.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyBy far the most important influence on employment opportunities in Coventry and Hinckley, as elsewhere in the country, is the United Kingdom's competitive performance. Britain must win back more jobs by doing better in the market place. Rising labour costs damage our competitiveness and threaten jobs. If we are to achieve a major impact on unemployment, we must moderate the growth of real wages.
Coventry and Hinckley are included in the same travelto-work area because an analysis of the data on commuting patterns from the 10 per cent. sample of the 1981 census of population indicates that together they form an area within which most people who live also work, and most people who work travel to their jobs from homes in the same area. While the boundaries of a TTWA do not imply that everyone living in the area is willing and able to travel to work in all other parts of the area, it can reasonably be inferred that job opportunities provided in one part of a TTWA will in many cases be taken up by people living in the TTWA.