§ 11. Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his latest estimate of the number of women in work in Leeds, West(a) full-time and (b) part-time; and what percentage of the work force these figures constitute. [21626]
§ Miss WiddecombeAs the hon. Member will be aware, information for areas of this size is available only from the census of employment. Results of the latest census, for 1993, will be available in September 1995.
Results from the autumn 1994 labour force survey for west Yorkshire showed 222,000 women in full-time work and 195,000 in part-time work as employees or self-employed, equivalent to 23 per cent. and 21 per cent. respectively of the total.
§ 12. Mr. GunnellTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many changes have been made since 1979 to the categories of persons included as unemployed in the data issued by his Department; and if he will list those categories and the numbers eliminated or added at each change. [21627]
§ Mr. OppenheimThere have been nine changes to the benefit system which have significantly affected the claimant count. In order to maintain consistency, we produce a series of figures taking account of these changes for comparison purposes. These changes do not, of course, affect the Department's other measure of unemployment, the labour force survey which is based on the International Labour Organisation standards.
§ 15. Mr. SpringTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the size of the work force currently in employment; and what was the equivalent figure a year ago. [21630]
§ Mr. OppenheimThere were 25.6 million in the work force in employment in the United Kingdom in December 1994 compared with 25.4 million in December 1993.