§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will set out the annual flows(a) on to and (b) off the unemployment register (excluding school leavers) in each calendar year since 1980; and if he will also give these figures for each standard region of Britain.
§ Mr. LeeFollowing is the available information. The table shows for each region of Great Britain the annual flows in to and out of the unemployed count, excluding school leavers, for each year since 1983. This information is based on the count of unemployed claimants and is available only from October 1982.
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Region 1983 1984 1985 1986 Out flows South East 648,363 620,004 675,035 718,949 East Anglia 129,106 125,212 138,720 149,253 London 535,572 520,830 564,592 629,156 South West 314,527 303,322 334,635 371,380 West Midlands 396,771 363,949 389,883 412,203 East Midlands 274,019 262,546 283,242 297,541 Yorkshire and Humberside 380,149 360,887 392,956 424,630 North West 532,163 514,119 539,190 573,285 Northern 278,827 264,687 281,206 300,283 Wales 222,713 208,184 229,859 251,642 Scotland 453,352 448,489 471,490 492,747 Great Britain 4,165,562 3,992,229 4,300,808 4,621,069 Note—The figures are not fully comparable over the periods shown due to changes in coverage. In particular, the outflows in 1983 were affected by the provisions of the 1983 Budget which meant that many older men no longer needed to sign on in order to get their benefits.
1 School leavers are those under 18 years of age who have not entered employment since completing full time education. These flow figures do not balance with the changes in total adult unemployment. This is because the latter are also affected by unemployed school leavers who reach the age of 18 and are then classified as adults.