Labour Force Survey (Hansard, 3 April 1990)

§ Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give, from Labour Force survey evidence for the years 1984 to 1989, by male, married 579W female and non-married female, the number of people in Great Britain classed as economically inactive according to ILO/OECD definitions in each of the categories (i) student, (ii) long-term sick or disabled, (iii) looking after family/home, (iv) retired from paid work, (v) believes no jobs available, and (vi) any other reason, by whether they stated they would like a regular paid job at the moment

Economically inactive (ILO definition) persons aged 16 or over—time series¹ Great Britain, Spring each year
Thousands
	1984	1985	1986
	Men	Married women³	Non-married women⁴	Men	Married women³	Non-married women⁴	Men	Married women³	Non-married women⁴
Would like work, available to start within 2 weeks, of which:	427	605	273	402	621	236	457	623	240
Student	38	⁶—	34	35	⁶—	29	38	⁶—	33
Long-term sick or disabled	65	25	18	58	19	17	68	25	20
Looking after family/home	⁶—	419	78	10	448	88	13	441	90
Retired from paid work	82	25	23	92	36	22	100	38	21
Believes no jobs available	114	64	37	122	50	38	140	42	29
Other inactive⁵	120	68	94	84	67	43	96	77	46
Would like work, not available to start within 2 weeks, of which:	374	472	273	356	402	254	361	388	251
Student	114	⁶—	97	129	⁶—	103	106	⁶—	96
Long-term sick or disabled	138	59	35	105	43	28	119	38	28
Looking after family/home	15	325	84	12	267	71	16	254	80
Retired from paid work	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	16	⁶—	⁶—	11	⁶—	⁶—
Believes no jobs available	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—
Other inactive⁵	94	75	53	89	77	45	105	84	41
Would not like work, of which:	4,140	5,489	4,140	4,238	5,521	4,214	4,337	5,477	4,213
Student	544	18	443	461	22	385	488	28	346
Long-term sick or disabled	532	239	158	527	233	155	528	224	168
Looking after family/home	33	2,513	287	37	2,342	273	39	2,290	279
Retired from paid work	920	390	229	985	454	234	1,013	451	228
Believes no jobs available	32	18	18	34	17	12	49	14	12
Other inactive⁵	2,080	2,310	3,004	2,195	2,452	3,155	2,221	2,470	3,181

Thousands
	1987	1988	²1989
	Men	Married women³	Non-married women⁴	Men	Married women³	Non-married women⁴	Men	Married women³	Non-married women⁴
Would like work, available to start within 2 weeks, of which:	362	568	231	370	544	224	362	495	233
Student	41	⁶—	32	43	⁶—	30	31	⁶—	24
Long-term sick or disabled	68	27	16	65	34	20	78	28	26
Looking after family/home	13	400	100	15	394	100	12	349	105
Retired from paid work	92	34	26	92	34	20	106	34	26
Believes no jobs available	84	35	20	71	20	18	61	22	17
Other inactive⁵	94	69	38	85	59	36	72	52	33
Would like work, not available to start within 2 weeks, of which:	389	382	231	392	406	251	443	458	325
Student	117	⁶—	85	108	⁶—	77	122	⁶—	88
Long-term sick or disabled	116	42	30	161	60	30	164	71	46
Looking after family/home	16	250	76	22	253	90	21	279	114
Retired from paid work	16	⁶—	⁶—	12	⁶—	⁶—	15	11	⁶—
Believes no jobs available	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—	⁶—
Other inactive⁵	116	77	35	87	82	46	119	90	68
Would not like work, of which:	4,445	5,411	4,263	4,406	5,298	4,247	4,335	4,952	4,198
Student	480	27	361	447	30	347	430	31	355
Long-term sick or disabled	607	243	173	515	272	168	634	254	175
Looking after family/home	39	2,125	279	52	2,014	281	46	1,797	300
Retired from paid work	1,044	456	232	1,080	467	228	1,059	469	218
Believes no jobs available	29	15	11	27	13	⁶—	23	⁶—	⁶—
Other inactive⁵	2,246	2,545	5,206	2,185	2,501	3,214	2,143	2,395	3,143

¹ Time series estimates, adjusted for cases where some information was not known.

² Preliminary estimates (1989 only).

³ Includes those legally married and those who consider themselves to be married (1989 only). In earlier years marital status was based on self-assessment.

⁴ Single, widowed, divorced or legally separated.

580W

and were free to start work within two weeks, would like a regular paid job but were not free to start work within two weeks and would not like a regular paid job at the moment.