Jobseeker's Allowance (Hansard, 27 June 1997)

§ Mr. Alan Howarth

Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its Chief Executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Leigh Lewis to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 27 June 1997: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many people aged 17 to 25 years are claiming the Jobseeker's Allowance in Portsmouth and what this figure is as a percentage of all those in the age group. The numbers of claimants are collated by two age groupings: 17 to 24 and 25 to 29 year olds. The table below show the number of claimants at the April 1997 count. In the Parliamentary Constituency of Portsmouth South, the numbers were:

Claimants	Male	Female	Total
Aged 17–24	771	288	1,059
Aged 25–29	608	133	741

In the Parliamentary Constituency of Portsmouth North, the numbers were:

Claimants	Male	Female	Total
Aged 17–24	572	193	765
Aged 25–29	344	79	423

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In the Local Authority Area of Portsmouth the numbers were:

Claimants	Male	Female	Total
Aged 17–24	1,255	450	1,705
Aged 25–29	901	201	1,102

Unfortunately, a percentage of 17–24 year unemployed claimants as a proportion of the entire workforce in that age group cannot be given, due to the age criteria used to compile the Population Census survey. However, I give below figures of all young people by available age group:

Portsmouth South—Workforce
Age group	Male	Female	Total
16–17	862	808	1,670
18–19	1,414	1,169	2,583
20–24	4,816	4,604	9,420
25–29	4,933	4,558	9,491

Portsmouth North-Workforce
Age group	Male	Female	Total
16–17	1,348	1,246	2,594
18–19	1,402	1,359	2,761
20–24	3,793	3,825	7,618
25–29	4,224	4,479	8,703

Portsmouth Local Authority Area
Age group	Male	Female	Total
16–17	1,907	1,746	3,653
18–19	2,484	2,203	4,687
20–24	7,919	7,736	15,655
25–29	8,439	8,212	16,651

Source: 1991 Census of Population.

I hope this is helpful.