§ Ms. Clare Shortasked the Paymaster General if he will publish the latest estimates of the numbers of people taking jobs under the jobstart scheme, the average level of gross earnings for such jobs and the distribution of jobstart earnings, in the same or similar format to that given in his answer of 18 April, Official Report, columns 527–28, also showing how many of the long-term unemployed were given restart interviews in the period covered by the estimates.
§ Mr. LeeThe restart programme was extended nationally on 1 July 1986, earlier in some areas. By 9 October, 366,451 people had been counselled. In the same period, 1,312 people started on the jobstart scheme. Information about wage levels is available for the first 965 of these participants. The average starting wage in that group was £64.69 per week.
The range of wages is shown in the table.
Wages (£ a week) Number 0.39 35 40.49 57 50.59 147 60.69 266 70.79 460 Total 965