§ 18. Mr. Roy Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Wales how many people are unemployed in (a) Gwent and (b) Wales compared with 1979 as a total and a percentage; and of the total unemployed how many are long-term unemployed.
§ Mr. Nicholas EdwardsOn 10 January 1985 there were 29,602 unemployed claimants in Gwent. A comparable claimant-based figure for 1979 is not available. The figure for registered unemployed in January 1979 was 15,968. For Wales as a whole for the same dates, the figures on a claimant-based claculation were 185,529 and 86,416 respectively, an increase of 114.7 per cent. The latest figures for the long-term unemployed relate to January 1985, when 75,697 had been unemployed in Wales for over one year.