HC Deb 09 March 1990 vol 168 cc900-1W
Mr. John Marshall

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what have been the trends in employment since 1983.

Mr. Nicholls

Since 1983 the United Kingdom work force in employment has been on a rising trend. In September 1989, the latest date for which information is available, the work force in employment was 26,955,000. This represents an increase of 3,391,000 or 14 per cent. since March 1983 when the figure was 23,564,000.

Mr. Sillars

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list(a) the unemployment rate for Scotland, (b) the male unemployment rate for Scotland, (c) the female unemployment rate for Scotland, (d) the unemployment rate for England, (e) the south-east of England and (f) the full-time employment rate for Scotland as at (i) October 1964, (ii) March 1966, (iii) June 1970, (iv) February 1974, (v) October 1974, (vi) May 1979, (vii) June 1983 and (viii) June 1987.

Mr. Nicholls

The extent of the available information is contained in the following table, all of which is available from the Library. Unemployment on a seasonally adjusted consistent basis at regional level is unavailable prior to April 1974. Employment estimates at regional level are not split between full and part-time.

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates1
Scotland England south east
male female total total total
October 1974 4.1 1.5 3.1 1.9 1.3
May 1979 6.5 4.4 5.7 3.7 2.6
June 1983 14.5 9.2 12.3 10.1 7.5
June 1987 16.0 9.3 13.2 9.6 7.3
1 Work force based rates.