§ Ms ChurchTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many economically active people aged under 25 years whose highest qualification was a degree and who had been in full-time education in the previous year, broken down where possible by ethnic group, were unemployed in(a) 1992 and (b) at the latest available date; [6645]
(2) how many economically active people aged under 25 years who did not have a higher education qualification and who had been a full-time student or pupil the previous year, broken down where possible by ethnic group, were unemployed in (i) 1992 and (ii) at the latest available date; [6646]
(3) how many people aged 16 to 24 years with no higher education qualification who were in full-time education in the previous year sought a full-time job but accepted a part-time job in (i) 1992 and (ii) 1996, broken down where possible by ethnic group; [6648]
(4) how many people aged 16 to 24 years with no higher education qualification who were in full-time education in the previous year, sought a permanent job but accepted a temporary job in (i) 1992 and (ii) 1996, broken down where possible by ethnic group. [6649]
564W
Unemployed persons aged 16–24 who were in full-time education a year ago by highest qualification1 Great Britain 000's ILO unemployment rate2 Degree3 Non-degree4 Degree3 Non-degree4 ILO unemployed All White Non-white All White Non-white Spring 1992 21 134 122 12 22.1 18.4 17.8 27.8 Spring 1996 22 178 157 20 17.7 22.3 21.3 35.2 Notes: 1 It is not possible to give any other ethnic breakdowns as the sample sizes are too small. Estimates for degree and non-degree, non-white are subject to considerable sampling variation. 2 Total ILO unemployed as a percentage of all economically active persons in the relevant group. 3 Degree in 1996 includes NVQ level 5 but NVQ level 4 has been included in non-degree. 4 Includes those with no qualifications. Source: ONS, Labour Force Survey.
§ Mrs. Angela KnightThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Ms Judith Church, dated 4 February 1997:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistics to your four outstanding questions (6645, 6646, 6648 and 6649) on under 25 year olds.These questions were originally tabled along with four others due for reply on 27 November last year. However, because the necessary variable concerning qualifications was not then available for spring 1996 your office said they would wait until the questions could be answered using spring 1996 rather than use spring 1995 figures. In the event it took longer than expected for the necessary variable to become available. I apologise for this delay.The estimates for Great Britain available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) are shown in the tables below. The LFS uses the International Labour Office (ILO) definition of unemployment. As in the case of any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to sampling variability. Figures below 10,000 are considered too small to provide reliable estimates and this is why the data on those ILO unemployed can only be broken down into white and non-white and why the figures on those accepting temporary or part-time jobs cannot be broken down at all by ethnic group.Your questions about those unemployed according to qualification refer to those with degrees and those without a higher education qualification. To ensure that the two categories added up to the total, we have interpreted "without a higher qualification" to be all those without degrees for all the questions answered here. The definition of a higher qualification which we normally use for our analyses covers everything above 'A' level. If you would like further analyses based on this definition your researcher should contact Tim Thair (LFS Analysis at ONS) on 0171 533 6142. I understand he and your researcher discussed the questions answered previously.
Employees aged 16–24 with highest qualification below degree level who were full-time students a year ago Great Britain (000) Sought full-time job but accepted a part-time job Sought permanent job but accepted a temporary job Spring 1992 24 20 Spring 1996 25 24 Notes: It is not possible to give the ethnic breakdown as the sample size is too small. 1 Includes those with no qualifications. Source: ONS, Labour Force Survey.