§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Paymaster General if he will publish a table showing (a) the number and percentage
Changes in the numbers of employees in employment between June 1979 and June 1985 Northern region Great Britain Thousand Per cent. Thousand Per cent. Manufacturing industries -125 -31 -1,743 -25 Service industries -30 -5 +361 +3 All industries and services -219 -18 -1,812 -8 Metal goods, engineering and vehicles -60 -33 -781 -23 Shipbuilding and repairing NA NA -51 -36 Mechanical engineering NA NA -250 -24 Electrical and electronic engineering NA NA -104 -14 Instrument engineering NA NA -15 -12 The number of registrants unemployed for over one year in the northern region and Great Britain in July 1979 was 32,521 and 340,543 respectively. The number of claimants unemployed for over one year on this basis for July 1985 was 106,502 and 1,269,286. Figures for long-term unemployment are only calculated quarterly.
It is difficult to make comparisons of long-term unemployment between 1979 and 1985 because of the change in the basis of the count in October 1982, the 1983 Budget provisions which mean that some men, mainly aged 60 and over, no longer need to sign on at unemployment benefit offices to receive benefit, and the change to a ward-based system for allocating claimants to localities.
§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Paymaster General how many people were in (a) full-time and (b) part-time employment in the Wirral and Chester travel-to-work areas in 1979, and at the latest available date.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkComprehensive employment statistics for travel-to-work areas are not available except for dates when censuses of employment are taken. Censuses have been taken triennially since 1978 and the latest results are for September 1981.
Results of the 1978 census of employment are not available for the travel-to-work areas announced last year, but figures for the area covered by the old Chester and Birkenhead travel-to-work areas, which corresponds most closely to the Wirral and Chester travel-to-work area, are as follows:
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Employees in employment Thousands Full-time Part-time All 1978 146.4 46.3 192.7 1981 140.0 43.4 183.3 of jobs lost in the northern region and in Britain between June 1979 and June 1985 in (i) all manufacturing industries, (ii) service industries, (iii) all industries, (iv) shipbuilding and (v) engineering industries and (b) the numbers of long-term unemployed as a proportion of all those in (1) full-time employment and (2) all employment in the northern region and in Britain in June 1979 and June 1985.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkThe following table contains the changes for the areas, dates and categories specified. Separate statistics are available for the shipbuilding and engineering industries only at national level. At regional level they are included in the metal goods, engineering and vehicles industries—division 3 of the 1980 standard industrial classification.
More up-to-date employment figures for travel-to-work areas will become available following the publication of the 1984 census of employment in the spring of 1986.
§ Mr. Tom Coxasked the Paymaster General what is the breakdown of unemployed people (a) by sex and (b) by duration for each of the years since 1979 for the London borough of Wandsworth.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkThe following information is in the Library. The table gives the breakdown of unemployed claimants by sex and duration for October 1984 and October 1985. Statistics of unemployment for local authority districts are derived from the new ward-based system. At present the analysis by duration is only available from April 1984 onwards, but information back to June 1983 will shortly be available.
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London borough of Wandsworth 11 October 1984 10 October 1985 Males Females Males Females Duration of unemployment in weeks One or less 347 200 307 202 Over 1 and up to 2 358 225 349 217 Over 2 and up to 4 562 327 581 356 Over 4 and up to 6 628 425 620 397 Over 4 and up to 8 390 212 395 225 Over 8 and up to 13 853 508 863 457 Over 13 and up to 26 1,611 829 1,676 934 Over 26 and up to 39 1,186 492 1,085 525 Over 39 and up to 52 897 381 797 352 Over 52 and up to 65 743 303 736 309 Over 65 and up to 78 535 165 533 186 Over 78 and up to 104 901 250 800 220
11 October 1984 10 October 1985 Males Females Males Females Over 104 and up to 156 1,147 323 1,163 350 Over 156 and up to 208 704 133 751 198 Over 208 and up to 260 391 52 514 95 Over 260 243 43 459 96 Grand total 11,496 4,868 11,629 5,099