HC Deb 01 April 1985 vol 76 cc485-7W
Mr. Skinner

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many jobs have been lost in (a) the metal manufacturing, (b) the engineering, (c) the textile and (d) the mining industries in Derbyshire since May 1979.

Mr. Alan Clark

Information about job gains and job losses is not available from the Department's statistics.

Net changes in employment can be given but, for areas smaller than regions, only for those dates when censuses of employment are taken. The latest available information for the county of Derbyshire is from the June 1978 and the following September 1981 census of employment and is as follows:

Orders of the Standard Industrial Classification 1968 Net changes in the numbers of employees in employment June 1978 to September 1981 (thousands)
VI Metal manufacture -3.0
VII Mechanical engineering +2.1

Orders of the Standard Industrial Classification 1968 Net changes in the numbers of employees in employment June 1978 to September 1981 (thousands)
VIII Instrument engineering -0.7
IX Electrical engineering -1.3
XIII Textiles -7.7
II Mining and quarrying +1.2

Mr. Thurnham

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are currently registered as unemployed, expressed as a percentage of the total of those estimated to be employed and self-employed.

Mr. Alan Clark

In February 1985 there were 3,323,700 claimants unemployed in the United Kingdom. The published unemployment rate of 13.7 per cent. expresses this figure as a percentage of the estimated number of employees in employment (21,158,500) plus the unemployed (3,029,700) in June 1984. The self-employed (2,494,000 at the same date) are not included in the denominator for the reasons given in my reply to my hon. Friend of 14 January at column334.

Mr. Nellist

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give, for each quarter since 1979, an index of output per person in the labour force, namely, employed and unemployed, for the whole economy, for manufacturing industries and for non-manufacturing industries.

Mr. Alan Clark

Quarterly estimates of output per person in the working population—that is employees in employment, self employed, HM forces and unemployed — for the United Kingdom are shown as index values with 1980 as 100.

Index Value
1979
Q1 101.4
Q2 105.1
Q3 103.6
Q4 104.0
1980
Q1 102.7
Q2 100.7
Q3 99.1
Q4 97.6
1981
Q1 97.5
Q2 97.8
Q3 98.8
Q4 99.2
1982
Q1 99.5
Q2 100.5
Q3 101.2
Q4 101.6
1983
Q1 102.5
Q2 102.9
Q3 104.7
Q4 105.0
1984
Q1 104.8
Q2 104.2
Q3 104.7

Separate indices are not available for manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries as the numbers unemployed are not classified by industry.

Mr. Nellist

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the rise in unemployment in the west midlands from April 1983 to the latest available date.

Mr. Alan Clark

The following information is in the library. Unemployment in the west midlands fell by 9,900, seasonally adjusted, between April 1983 and February 1985. However the provisions of the 1983 Budget meant an estimated 17,100 men no longer had to sign on, to receive supplementary benefit or national insurance credits after April 1983.