HC Deb 25 February 1988 vol 128 cc289-90W
Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give, from the 1987 "Labour Force Survey" by region including Greater London, and by sex, the number of people not counted as unemployed by the definition using broad International Labour Organisation guidelines, on the grounds that they had not looked for a job in the four weeks prior to interview, but who had stated that they would like a job if one was available, and(a) were available to start work within two weeks or (b) were not available to start work within two weeks.

Mr. Lee

Preliminary results from the 1987 "Labour Force Survey" are as shown in the following table:

Persons not in employment and not unemployed on ILO-OECD definition, who had not looked for work in four weeks prior to interview1 but would like a job, by availability to start work Spring 1987, Thousands
Available to start within two weeks Not available to start within two weeks2
Males Females Males Females
Great Britain 379 799 284 512
Northern 28 55 20 35
Yorkshire and Humberside 41 86 28 53
East Midlands 26 60 18 42
East Anglia 3 24 3 14
South East 100 209 73 152
of which Greater London 49 90 32 66
South West 23 62 18 29
West Midlands 43 87 30 50
North West 55 101 42 73
Wales 24 39 23 29
Scotland 30 75 26 38
1 Includes those who did not state whether they had looked for work.
2 Includes those who did not state whether they were available to start work.
3 Sample size too small for a reliable estimate.

Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give, from the 1987 "Labour Force Survey", the number of people who had looked for a job in the four-week reference period and were available to start work within two weeks, for each region and Greater London, broken down by sex and claimant status.

Mr. Lee

The available information is given in the following table. A reliable analysis of the regional figures by claimant status is not available.

People looking for a job in the four-week reference period1 who were available to start work within two weeks Great Britain, Spring 1987 (Preliminary results)
Thousands
Men Women Total
Claiming benefits 1,506 495 2,001
Not claiming 215 668 883
Total, Great Britain 1,722 1,163 2,884
Of which:
South East 393 282 675
(including Greater London) (203) (115) (318)
East Anglia 44 41 85
South West 100 92 193
West Midlands 209 119 328
East Midlands 117 87 203
Yorkshire and Humberside 172 105 277
North West 236 163 398
North 127 72 199
Wales 101 64 165
Scotland 223 139 362
Note: The figures from the "Labour Force Survey" are subject to sampling errors. In some cases figures may appear not to add because of rounding.
1 Including some wanting to start a new job already obtained, as in the ILO/OECD measure of unemployment.

Mr. Hardy

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the constituencies in which current unemployment is at over 15 per cent.

Mr. Lee

The information requested is not available. Unemployment rates are not calculated for areas smaller than travel-to-work areas.

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