§ Mr. LangIn September 1985, the latest date for which figures are available, the number of self-employed people in Great Britain was provisionally estimated to be 2,590,000.
§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Paymaster General what is the basis of calculations for changes in the number of self-employed; and what information is available about the main types of self-employment.
§ Mr. LangThe Department's self-employment estimates are obtained from the censuses of population, the latest of which was held in 1981, updated by applying proportionate changes in self-employment as estimated from a labour force survey (LFS). For periods since the date of the latest available LFS results, currently spring 1984, the estimates assume continuation of the rate of change observed in a previous period.
The estimates for years for which census of LFS data are available are analysed by industry and by region and the detailed estimates published in articles in Employment Gazette.
Other details which are available directly from the LFS include analyses of the occupation and age of the self-employed.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Paymaster General if he will give a breakdown by region of the number of individuals who have been self-employed in each of the last 15 years for which figures are available; and in each of these years what this figure represents as a percentage of the total number of individuals in paid work in that region.
§ Mr. LangThe figures are contained in the following tables:
407W
Self employed people in June of each year thousands Region 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 South East 641 640 674 673 648 631 614 633 651 675 700 715 730 857 908 East Anglia 75 79 81 77 78 75 73 76 79 83 87 90 94 103 115 South West 210 204 200 182 180 169 158 152 146 187 227 220 213 232 232 West Midlands 163 164 162 162 164 161 157 149 141 156 170 174 177 188 194 East Midlands 132 133 131 117 133 122 111 113 116 130 144 151 157 163 172 Yorkshire and Humberside 160 160 162 165 164 162 160 147 134 149 164 167 169 203 216 North West 223 213 216 225 214 209 204 209 214 216 217 221 224 259 273 North 84 80 82 81 80 86 93 85 77 81 84 87 91 93 96 Wales 118 113 115 110 115 122 128 126 124 119 115 120 126 145 155 Scotland 148 146 146 143 158 151 144 152 160 154 149 164 179 185 197 Great Britain 1,954 1,932 1,969 1,935 1,933 1,888 1,843 1,842 1,842 1,950 2,057 2,109 2,160 2,433 2,558
Self employed as a percentage of the civilian employed labour force in June of each year Region 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 South East 8.0 8.0 8.3 8.4 8.1 8.0 7.8 8.0 8.0 8.3 8.8 9.1 9.2 10.7 11.1 East Anglia 11.0 11.3 11.1 10.4 10.4 10.1 9.7 10.0 10.1 10.5 11.3 11.7 12.1 13.5 14.0 South West 13.7 13.2 12.5 10.7 10.6 10.0 9.3 8.8 8.4 10.5 12.8 12.6 12.4 13.1 13.1 West Midlands 6.9 7.0 6.7 6.7 6.9 6.9 6.7 6.3 5.9 6.6 7.7 8.1 8.5 8.9 9.1 East Midlands 8.9 8.9 8.5 7.3 8.2 7.5 6.8 6.9 6.9 7.8 8.9 9.5 10.0 10.5 10.8 Yorkshire and Humberside 7.8 7.8 7.7 7.7 7.6 7.6 7.5 6.9 6.2 7.0 8.1 8.5 8.7 10.4 11.0 North West 7.6 7.3 7.3 7.7 7.4 7.3 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.6 8.1 8.5 8.7 9.9 10.3 North 6.4 6.1 6.0 6.1 5.9 6.4 6.9 6.4 5.8 6.3 7.0 7.4 8.0 8.2 8.5 Wales 10.9 10.4 10.3 10.0 10.3 10.9 11.4 11.0 10.7 10.6 10.9 11.6 12.2 13.8 14.7 Scotland 6.9 6.8 6.6 6.4 7.1 6.8 6.5 6.8 7.1 6.9 6.9 7.7 8.5 8.7 9.2 Great Britain 8.3 8.2 8.2 8.0 8.0 7.9 7.7 7.6 7.5 8.0 8.8 9.2 9.5 10.5 10.9