§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number and proportion of people who have been out of work for over five years for each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. LeeFollowing is the available information. Claimants unemployed for over five years were not separately identified before April 1983. The table shows the number of unemployed claimants who have been unemployed for over five years in the United Kingdom expressed numerically and as a percentage of the total unemployed claimants for April of each year from 1983 to 1988.
Unemployed claimants in the United Kingdom unemployed overfive years April Number Percentage of total claimants 1983 66,842 2.1 1984 84,286 2.7 1985 136,259 4.2 1986 220,655 6.6 72W
Table A Unemployed registrants April 1979 Unemployed claimants April 1988 Country Male Female Male Female England 739,806 280,194 1,360,569 607,994 Scotland 117,693 57,897 218,158 90,926 Wales 58,729 25,489 100,202 39,871 Northern Ireland 43,002 17,785 86,782 31,487
April Number Percentage of total claimants 1987 272,047 8.8 1988 271,242 10.7
§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the present rate of unemployment in the boroughs that make up inner London; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LeeThe information requested is not available. Unemployment rates are not calculated for areas smaller than travel-to-work areas.
§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest total national unemployment figures; and how many of these people have been unemployed for more than five, six, seven, eight and nine years, respectively.
§ Mr. Lee[holding answer 22 July 1988]: Figures are not separately identified for all the durations requested. However the following is the available information. The table shows for 14 April 1988, the latest date for which analysis by duration is available, the number of unemployed claimants who had been unemployed for five years or more, together with the total number of unemployed claimants in the United Kingdom. United Kingdom.
United Kingdom Total number of unemployed claimants 2,535,989 Number of claimants unemployed for five years or more 271,242
§ Mr. ClayTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people were(a) unemployed and (b) unemployed for 52 weeks or more in April 1979 and April 1988 in (i) England, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Wales and (iv) Northern Ireland, broken down by sex.
§ Mr. LeeDirect comparisons of unemployment by duration since 1979 are not possible because of changes in coverage of the count. Following is the available information which is also in the Library. Table A shows the number of male and female, unemployed registrants in April 1979 and unemployed claimants in April 1988, in each country. Table B shows corresponding figures according to the number of unemployed claimants and registrants who had been unemployed for one year or more.
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Table B Registrants unemployed one year or more April 1979 Claimants unemployed one year or more April 1988 Country Male Female Male Female 223,622 54,810 604,205 187,074 Scotland 35,213 10,365 95,910 27,964 Wales 18,047 4,738 41,225 10,830 Northern Ireland 16,654 3,262 50,841 11,157