§ Mr. Barry Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Wales how many people in Wales currently receiving unemployment benefit have never been in employment; what percentage of the unemployed, and how many, in Wales are now long-term unemployed; and what is his estimate of the number in Wales aged 60 plus years who no longer figure in the unemployment total but who previously did so.
§ Mr. Nicholas EdwardsPeople who have not been employed since leaving school are not entitled to unemployment benefit but may receive supplementary benefit. The number in this category in Wales in December 1984 was 21,531.
As at October 1984, 40.3 per cent. or 71,901 people in Wales had been unemployed for over one year.
The 1983 Budget provisions resulted in an estimated 9,000 men over 60 no longer having to sign on in Wales during the period April to August 1983. No estimates are available of the number currently affected although the total should be little changed since the number of men who have subsequently become eligible under the Budget provisions will have been broadly offset by those previously eligible reaching retirement age.