HC Deb 14 March 1985 vol 75 cc208-11W
Mr. Speller

asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will list the number of people in part-time employment in the month of January for the years 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980 and 1985;

(2) if he will list the number of people in full-time employment in the month of January for the years 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980 and 1985.

Mr. Alan Clark

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms. Short) on 18 February 1985 at column 348.

Mr. Speller

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number of people known to be self-employed in the month of January for the years 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980 and 1985.

Mr. Alan Clark

Estimates of the number of self-employed people in Great Britain are only available quarterly from March 1965. The following table gives the information for March 1965, March 1970, March 1975, March 1980 and September 1984, the latest available date.

Self-employed persons—Great Britain
Number
March 1965 1,620,000
March 1970 1,820,000
March 1975 1,934,000
March 1980 1,923,000
September 1984 2,465,000

Sir Anthony Grant

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current percentage of unemployment in Cambridgeshire; and how this figure compares with (a) Northern Ireland, (b) development areas, (c) intermediate areas and (d) non-assisted areas.

Mr. Alan Clark

Following is the information, which is available in the Library, for 10 January 1985.

Unemployment rate
per cent
Cambridgeshire 10.2
Northern Ireland 21.2
Development Areas (Great Britain) 20.2
Intermediate Areas (Great Britain) 16.3
Non-assisted Areas (Great Britain) 11.3

Unemployment by age
Scotland United Kingdom
Under 18 years 18–24 years 25–54 years 55 and over Under 18 years 18–24 years 25–54 years 55 and over
Unemployed registrants
January 1979 22,373 55,851 89,088 22,988 112,798 411,926 688,411 242,139
January 1980 22,438 61,399 95,861 23,534 110,767 427,807 688,178 243,819
January 1981 30,623 87,524 136,631 31,824 200,171 730,819 1,138,240 350,221
January 1982 33,138 106,276 168,674 38,459 230,070 923,532 1,466,789 450,230
October 1982 30,608 113,579 169,180 39,383 274,013 1,029,078 1,520,465 471,572
Unemployed claimants
October 1982 30,446 104,614 151,957 40,028 252,894 943,405 1,375,275 477,505
January 1983 34,334 113,668 162,950 41,805 221,745 1,004,212 1,494,075 505,183
January 1984 33,669 116,636 169,135 34,004 204,293 1,055,450 1,573,030 366,905
January 1985 31,966 117,531 179,754 32,716 197,678 1,088,505 1,687,720 367,055

Note:

The basis of the unemployment count changed in October 1982 with the introduction of voluntary registration at Jobcentres.

Comparisons are also affected by the provisions of the 1983 Budget which means that some men, mainly aged 60 years and over, no longer need to sign on in order to receive supplementary benefits or national insurance credits. It is estimated that some 162,000 men in the United Kingdom (of whom 11,000 were in Scotland) were affected.

Mr. Sheerman

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the proportion of married males and females unemployed for a year or more aged under 25 years, 25 to 44 years and 45-plus years, respectively, who were unskilled or semi-skilled, had dependent children aged under 16 years, and had an unemployed or economically inactive spouse.

Married persons unemployed for 1 year or more Great Britain: 2nd Quarter 1983
Per cent.
Males Females
Aged under 25 years 25–44 45 and over Aged under 25 years 25–44 45 and over
All married persons unemployed for 1 year or more of which: 100 100 100 100 100 100

Mr. McTaggart

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the numbers in the following age categories (a) 16 to 18-year-olds, (b) 18 to 25-year-olds, (c) 25 to 50-year-olds and (d) those over 50 years of age who were: (i) registered as unemployed and (ii) on a government training scheme in (1) Scotland and (2) the United Kingdom at the latest available date and on the equivalent date in each of the last six years.

Mr. Peter Morrison

[pursuant to his reply, 4 March 1985, c. 362]: The available information on unemployment is shown in the following table. Separate information for those aged under 50 or 50 or over is not available for all the dates shown. I regret that, with the exception of the youth training scheme, the information as requested by age group is not available for Government training schemes.

At the end of January 1985, 34,117 young people were on the youth training scheme in Scotland who had entered the scheme when aged under 18 and the comparable figure for Great Britain was 292,342. The equivalent figure at the end of January 1984 were: Scotland—29,078 and Great Britain—256,470.

Mr. Alan Clark

[pursuant to his reply, 11 March 1985, c. 47]: The following table gives the available information for Great Britain using revised results of the 1983 Labour Force Survey.

Males Females
Aged under 25 years 25–44 45 and over Aged under 25 years 25–44 45 and over
with previous job in unskilled or semi-skilled occupation, with at least one dependent child under 16, and with an unemployed or economically inactive spouse 22 20 5 7 3 *
* Less than 1 per cent.

Source: 1983 Labour Force Survey.

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