§ Mr. McAvoyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many times the method for calculating unemployment statistics has been changed since 1979; and what the current figure for unemployment would be if calculated by the method used in 1979. [14917]
§ Mrs. Angela KnightI have been asked to reply.
Like many other countries, the UK produces two official measures of unemployment—an administrative measure, referred to as the monthly claimant unemployment count, based on the system for claiming unemployment-related benefits and a survey measure based on the internationally standard International Labour Organisation definition.
There have been nine changes affecting the coverage of the monthly unemployment claimant count which have been significant enough to warrant a recasting of the consistent seasonally adjusted series. Details are given in the November 1995 edition of "Labour Market Trends".
The ILO measure of unemployment has been compiled and published on the same definition since 1984—annually 1984 to 1991; quarterly 1992 to date.
Although the two measures of unemployment are different, they show broadly similar trends.