HC Deb 02 February 1988 vol 126 cc545-8W
29. Mr. Ian Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are currently employed; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Lee

In September 1987, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 24,446,000 people in the employed labour force in Great Britain. This represents an increase of 1,449,000 since March 1983. The figures are adjusted for the effects of seasonal variations. The employed labour force is the sum of employees in employment, the self-employed and Her Majesty's forces.

40. Mr. Oppenheim

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the ratio of persons in employment to persons unemployed in each year since 1983.

Mr. Lee

The table shows the total employed labour force, and the number of unemployed claimants (excluding school leavers) in the United Kingdom for June of each year since 1983, and also the ratio of employed labour force to unemployed claimants. All figures are seasonally adjusted.

Employed Labour Force Thousands Unemployed Claimants Thousands Ratio
June 1983 23,594.9 2,884.2 8.2:1
June 1984 24,049.4 2,978.6 8.1:1
June 1985 24,437.9 3,109.3 7.9:1
June 1986 24,537.3 3,212.5 7.6:1
June 1987 24,907.5 2,925.2 8.5:1

45. Mr. Darling

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will consider maintaining a record of the employment destination of all those who leave Manpower Services Commission schemes or who leave the unemployment register.

Mr. Cope

The Manpower Services Commission follows up people leaving the programmes it administers, in order to measure how effective they are in helping people. The information collected includes the destination of leavers. The way in which this information is collected varies from programme to programme and can be on a sample basis.

More than 400,000 people currently leave the unemployment register in any month. Although records of individual destinations are not maintained, information on the characteristics of the vacancies filled through jobcentres are available. Additionally there have been recent ad hoc surveys which will provide information on amongst other matters the destination of specific groups of unemployed people.

52. Mr. Andrew MacKay

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the current level of unemployment.

Mr. Lee

On 10 December 1987 the number of unemployed claimants in the United Kingdom was 2,695,810.

58. Mr. Fraser

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people in Lambeth have been unemployed for more than a year.

Mr. Lee

On 8 October 1987 the number of unemployed claimants in the London borough of Lambeth who had been unemployed for more than one year was 10,523.

63. Mr. David Porter

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the fall in unemployment in Waveney over the past 12 months; and what has been the comparable position in the United Kingdom as a whole.

Mr. Lee

On 10 December 1987, the number of unemployed claimants in the Waveney local authority area was 5,011, a fall of 1,205 since December 1986. The comparable figure for the United Kingdom as a whole was 2,695,810, a fall of 533,357.

67. Mr. Burns

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total number of people unemployed in the Chelmsford local authority area in December 1987 and December 1986.

Mr. Lee

On 10 December 1987 the number of unemployed claimants in the Chelmsford local authority area was 2,946. The corresponding figure for December 1986 was 3,788.

72. Mr. Dykes

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what discussions he has had on employment trends with his counterparts in the EEC member states.

Mr. Cope

Since the adoption by the Community of the action programme on employment growth in December 1986, after an initiative by the United Kingdom with Italy and Ireland, we have sought to keep the subject of employment growth high on the agenda of business for the EC Council of Labour and Social Affairs Ministers. The Council has considered a report on the action programme, and has pursued as a priority the issue of long-term unemployment. We frequently seek to promote discussion of issues relating to employment growth with the European Commission and other member states.

Employees in Employement
Males Females
Full time Part time All Full lime Part time All Total employees
Wales
June 1979 n/a n/a 618 250 165 415 1,033
September 19841 474 29 504 220 163 383 886
September 19872 n/a n/a 486 210 179 389 875
Great Britain
June 1979 n/a n/a 13,183 5,585 3,870 9,455 22,638
September 19841 10,928 771 11,699 5,289 3,858 9,147 20,846
September 198722 10,935 881 11,816 5,467 4,209 9,676 21,492
United Kingdom
June 1979 n/a n/a 13,487 5,816 3,870 9,686 23,173
September 19841 11,173 797 11,970 5,437 3,939 9,376 21,346
September 19872 n/a n/a 12,073 5,696 4,209 9,905 21,978
1 Census of employment.
2 Latest available.

89. Mr. Knowles

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment which regions are showing the greatest falls in unemployment; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Lee

The unemployment rate fell in all regions over the last 12 months. With the largest falls being in the west midlands, Wales, north-west and the north. In the last 18 months since June 1986 the falls have also been largest in these regions.

102. Mr. Andy Stewart

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the measures taken to reduce unemployment in the 18 to 25-year-age group.

Mr. Lee

Those in the 18-to-25-year-age group are already benefiting from the growth in the economy which has produced more than 1.4 million new jobs since March 1983. In addition, they can take advantage of the wide range of employment and training measures we have developed to help unemployed people back into employment. Unemployment among those aged 18 to 25 fell by 175,166 in the year to October 1987. Unemployment amongst the under 25s is now at the lowest level for over five years.

We are now moving towards meeting our guarantee to everyone in this age group who has been unemployed for between six and 12 months of the place on the job training scheme or on the enterprise allowance scheme or in a jobclub.

75. Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many men and how many women were in full-time employment in June 1979 and in December 1987 in(a) Wales and (b) the United Kingdom.

Mr. Lee

Estimates of the numbers of full-time and part-time male employees in employment for the dates and areas specified are available only from the September 1984 census of employment. Regional estimates of the numbers of self-employed people do not separately identify full-time and part-time employment. The available comparable information is given in the table.

Mr. Canavan

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the percentage increase in the number of unemployed people in the United Kingdom since May 1979.

Mr. Lee

Between 10 May 1979 and 10 December 1987, the number of unemployed claimants in the United Kingdom, excluding school leavers and adjusted for discontinuities and seasonality, increased by 126.9 per cent.

Back to