§ Mr. WorthingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will express the Scottish unemployment rate as a percentage of the United Kingdom unemployment rate for each year since 1979.
§ Mr. Allan StewartA comparison of Scottish and United Kingdom seasonally adjusted annual average unemployment rates in the period since 1979 is set out in the table. The latest position (December 1990) is such that Scotland's unemployment rate is closer to the United Kingdom average in absolute terms (1.5 percentage points) than it was at any time since January 1979.
Unemployment rates1 Scotland United Kingdom Scottish rate as a percentage of United Kingdom rate per cent. per cent. 1979 5.7 4.0 142.5 1980 7.0 5.1 137.3 1981 9.9 8.1 122.2 1982 11.3 9.5 118.9 1983 12.3 10.5 117.1 1984 12.6 10.7 117.8 1985 12.9 10.9 118.3 1986 13.3 11.1 119.8 1987 13.0 10.0 130.0 1988 11.2 8.1 138.3 1989 9.3 6.3 147.6 21990 8.0 5.8 137.9 2December 8.0 6.5 123.1 1Rates expressed as a percentage of the workforce. 2 Provisional.