§ Mr. Pikeasked the Paymaster General how many people were employed in full-time manufacturing jobs in (a) the North West region, (b) Lancashire, (c) Burnley travel-to-work area and (d) Pendle travel-to-work area in May 1979 and at the latest available date; and if he will give the percentage change.
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§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeBetween employment censuses, which we held in 1978, 1981 and 1984, employment statistics are based on small-scale sample surveys which cannot produce reliable results for areas smaller than the standard economic regions. At the regional level, figures are not available for those full time in manufacturing industries. The estimated number of people working both full and part time in manufacturing industries in the North West region in June 1979 was 971,000. In September 1986 it was 638,000, a decrease over the period of just over 34 per cent. However, some of the decrease in the figures will be the reclassification of jobs such as industrial cleaning, catering, computer services and road haulage previously done by manufacturers' own employees and now done by subcontractors outside the manufacturing sector. This developing feature of our economy has the effect of exaggerating the extent of the decline of manufacturing employment.
Table 1 Employees employed full-time in manufacturing industries (as defined according to SIC 1968) (thousands) June 1978 September 1981 Percentage change North West region 920.0 750.2 -18.5 Lancashire 196.4 170.4 - 13.2 Burnley travel-to-work area1 20.8 16.5 -20.4 Pendle travel-to-work area2 19.3 16.1 -16.4 1 Defined as the area covered by the Burnley and Padiham jobcentre areas. 2 Defined as the area covered by the Colne, Nelson and Barnoldswick jobcentre areas.
Table 2 Employees employed full-time in manufacturing industries (as defined according to SIC 1980) (thousands) September 1981 September 1984 Percentage change North West region 742.9 621.3 -16.4 Lancashire 167.4 not yet available Burnley travel-to-work area 17.0 not yet available Pendle travel-to-work area 16.5 not yet available
§ Ms. Clare Shortasked the Paymaster General what is his best estimate of the number of people with two or more jobs in 1979, 1983 and at the latest available date.
§ Mr. LeeThe regularly published employed labour force series does not identify persons with two or more jobs.
The labour force survey provides information on a different basis but identifies persons with a second job. The available information for the years requested is given in the table:
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Estimates of persons in employment1 with a second job, either self-employed or as an employee, in Great Britain Year Thosands 1979 380 1983 550 1985 778 1 Estimates relate to the spring of each year. Figures for 1983 and 1985 include those on Government schemes, whereas the figure for 1979 includes those on schemes only if reported as in employment.
§ Ms. Clare Shortasked the Paymaster General what is his best estimate of the number of people engaged. on Government special measures with contracts of employment in 1983 and at the latest available date.
§ Mr. LeeThe employment measures run by my Department and the Manpower Services Commission on which participants have contracts of employment are listed in the table, together with the number participating at January1 1983 and at the latest available date.
January 1983 January 1987 CEP/community programme 34,199 248,255 community industry 8,044 7,768 Young-new workers schemes 110.000 33,938 Job splitting scheme 881 239 Voluntary projects programme2 n/a 1.6292 152,331 291,829 1 The figure for the job splitting scheme is for February as the scheme was launched in January 1983. 2 These are staff employed by sponsors to run projects. n/a = not available.
§ Ms. Clare Shortasked the Paymaster General if he will provide full details of the basis on which the numbers of people in self-employment is estimated and any change that has been made since 1979 in the way in which this figure is estimated.
§ Mr. LeeEstimates of self-employment are obtained from the census of population, updated using data from the labour force survey (LFS) and the census of agriculture. Full descriptions of the methods used have been published in a series of articles inEmployment Gazette, in particular the editions for February 1983, June 1983, March 1985 and May 1986.
In 1979 self-employment was assumed unchanged since 1975.
The first change in methodology since 1979 was the use of LFS results to produce new estimates for 1975 to 1979. These were published in the January 1982 Employment Gazette. The LFS data were used in place of discontinued information from the national insurance card count.
In June 1983 the conventional assumption that the level of self-employment had remained constant since the date of the latest LFS data was reviewed. As there were reasons for expecting some continuation of the upward movement in self-employment, a supplementary series which assumed a continuation of the rate of growth observed between the latest two surveys, was introduced.
In July 1984, when data from the 1983 LFS were incorporated in the estimates, the version of the series which assumed no change since the date of the latest LFS was discontinued.
When the estimates were updated to take account of results from the 1984 LFS and revised data from the 1983 LFS the figures for self-employment showed exceptional growth between 1983 and 1984 and the Department's statisticians considered it inappropriate to assume that this rate had continued. It was instead assumed that the average rate of growth between 1981 and 1984 continued thereafter. When 1985 LFS data were incorporated it was assumed, pending the results of the 1986 LFS, that self-employment continued to grow after mid-1985 at the average rate observed between 1981 and 1985.
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§ Ms. Clare Shortasked the Paymaster General what is the best available estimate of male full-time employment and male part-time employment in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. LeeFor the period March 1979 to March 1986, the most recent estimates for male employees in employment are to be found on page 4 of historical supplement No. 1 to the February 1987Employment Gazette. A copy is in the library.
Estimates for June and September (the latest date for which figures are available) are as follows:
Male employees in employment in Great Britain Full time Part time June 1986 10,759,000 852,000 September 1986 10,837,000 850,000 Except for September 1981 (when a census of employment was conducted) no figures are available for part-time males from March 1979 to June 1984.
Estimates of the numbers of self-employed people do not separately identify those who are employed full time.