HC Deb 24 May 1989 vol 153 cc568-9W
Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list from the 1988 labour force survey, by region, including Greater London and by male and female, the numbers of people who were(a) without jobs and who looked for work in the four weeks before their LFS interview and were available to start work within two weeks, who wanted full-time jobs, the number who wanted part-time jobs and the number who had no preference (b) unemployed according to the standard LFS definition who were looking for full-time jobs and the number looking for part-time jobs and the number who had no preference, (c) in part-time jobs who were looking for a different job with longer hours or looking for an additional job, (d) looking for a different job with shorter hours, (e) claimants not unemployed by the definition using broad ILO guidelines on the grounds that they were employed, and (f) claimants not unemployed by the conventional LFS definition on the grounds that they were employed.

Mr. Lee

Available estimates from the preliminary results of the 1988 labour force survey are shown in the following tables:

Table 3
Persons in employment in part-lime jobs1 looking for a different job with longer hours or an additional job
Spring 1988, Thousands
Males Females
Great Britain 127 225
Northern 11 17
Yorkshire and Humberside 14 26
East Midlands 2 18
East Anglia 2 2
South East 26 60
of which: Greater London 11 20
South West 2 15
West Midlands 2 19
North West 23 28
Wales 2 14
Scotland 14 18
1 Based on the respondent's own assessment, not on the number of hours usually worked.
2 Sample size too small for a reliable estimate.

Source: 1988 Labour Force Survey, Preliminary results.

TABLE 4
Persons in employment in part-time jobs looking for a different job with shorter hours
Spring 1988. Thousands
Males Females
Great Britain 240 123
Northern 10 1
Yorkshire and Humberside 23 1
East Midlands 19 11
East Anglia 1 1
South East 84 49
of which Greater London 32 21
South West 17 1
West Midlands 23 13
North West 27 14
Wales 1 1
Scotland 19 10
1 Sample size too small for a reliable estimate.

Source: 1988 Labour Force Survey, Preliminary results.

It is estimated that there were some 100,000 male and 60,000 female claimants employed in Great Britain in Spring 1988. However, a reliable analysis of these figures by region is not available, mainly because of the sampling errors involved.