HC Deb 29 June 1989 vol 155 cc560-2W
Mr. Patchett

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list in theOfficial Report the number of long-term unemployed people, male and female, indicating in each instance how many are under the age of 25 years in Yorkshire and in each of the parliamentary constituencies of Yorkshire; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Lee

The information is available from the Library. The following table shows for Yorkshire and for each parliamentary constituency of Yorkshire the total number of unemployed claimants in April 1989, who had been unemployed for over 12 months, analysed by sex and separately identifying those aged under 25 years. In the year to April 1989 long-term unemployment fell by an average of 28.1 per cent. in the parliamentary constituencies concerned.

Long-term unemployment in Yorkshire parliamentary constituencies April 1989
Number of unemployed claimants
Male Female
Parliamentary constituency Total Of which under 25 years Total Of which under 25 years
Harrogate 241 21 94 13
Richmond 391 39 187 22
Ryedale 333 22 149 14
Scarborough 739 88 252 40
Selby 380 41 191 25
Skipton and Ripon 242 21 135 15
York 1,045 142 309 62
Barnsley Central 1,730 215 287 62
Barnsley East 1,461 198 259 70
Barnsley West and Penistone 1,378 158 304 69
Don Valley 1,581 181 388 84
Doncaster Central 1,836 217 501 115
Doncaster North 1,875 264 458 86
Rother Valley 1,322 131 338 83
Rotherham 1,554 241 357 100
Sheffield Central 2,628 513 665 231
Sheffield At tercliffe 1,267 205 324 88
Sheffield Brightside 1,969 366 466 156
Sheffield Hallam 797 181 334 104
Sheffield Heeley 1,582 303 476 123
Sheffield Hillsborough 1,053 177 403 97
Wentworth 1,485 177 311 63
Batley and Spen 844 121 244 48
Bradford North 1,614 232 383 92
Bradford South 1,149 184 297 51
Bradford West 1,753 241 409 106
Calder Valley 502 61 213 35
Colne Valley 483 69 206 55
Dewsbury 748 100 229 74
Elmet 502 49 179 33
Halifax 913 128 268 59
Hemsworth 1,289 144 218 42
Huddersfield 752 120 284 57
Keighley 561 55 243 33

Long-term unemployment in Yorkshire parliamentary constituencies April 1989
Number of unemployed claimants
Male Female
Parliamentary constituency Total Of which under 25 years Total Of which under 25 years
Leeds Central 1,792 320 434 109
Leeds East 1,517 275 408 112
Leeds North East 860 157 266 68
Leeds North West 617 90 207 47
Leeds West 1,020 160 347 70
Morley and Leeds South 822 111 242 37
Normanton 709 67 213 29
Pontefract and Castleford 1,409 159 259 56
Pudsey 364 45 157 21
Shipley 429 46 148 18
Wakefield 1,043 104 270 54

Long-term unemployment in Yorkshire, April 1989
Number of unemployed claimants
Male Female
County Total Of which under 25 years Total Of which under 25 years
North Yorkshire 3,371 374 1,317 191
West Yorkshire 21,692 3,042 6,142 1,306
South Yorkshire 23,518 3,527 5,871 1,531
Yorkshire 48,581 6,943 13,312 3,028

Mr. Teddy Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many new jobs have been created over the past five years in(a) the United Kingdom, (b) the rest of the European Economic Community and (c) the European Free Trade Area; and what assessment he has made of the reasons for the differences in these figures.

Mr. Lee

The latest available information is given in the following table. The EFTA unemployment rates are not directly comparable with those for the United Kingdom and the EEC because of differences in the definitions, methods of compilation and timing of the statistics.

The unemployment rate in the United Kingdom remains lower than that of the majority of our European partners.

Unemployment rate Per Cent.
United Kingdom (Apr) 6.9
EEC (Apr) 9.3
EFTA1 2.8
1 Excluding Iceland, Liechtenstein.

Note: Rates for United Kingdom and the EEC are seasonally adjusted comparable rates produced by the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

The rate for the EFTA is based on unadjusted unemployment for the latest available month for each country.

The Government have placed great stress on creating the right economic conditions in which enterprise can flourish and jobs can be created. Since 1980 the United Kingdom economy has been the fastest-growing major economy in Western Europe and we are now well into our eighth successive year of sustained growth. As a result of this, growth in employment over the past five years has been better than any other European country.