§ Ms PerhamTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of people of working age who are economically inactive who are aged(a) 25 or under, (b) 26 to 45, (c) 46 to 54, (d) 55 to 59 and (e) 60 to 65 years who are (i) available for work, (ii) long-term sick/disabled, (iii) looking after family home, (iv) carers, (v) students, (vi) early retired and (vii) other. [26185]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe 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 Linda Perham, dated 3 February 1998:
579WThe Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply, as Director of the Office for National Statistics, to your recent question on those who are economically inactive.The latest estimates from the quarterly Labour Force Survey are shown in the table. Please note that the age groups shown are slightly different from those requested in order to be consistent with standard age groups. For example the upper age band has been taken as 60–64 (and refers only to men) because men aged 65 and all women aged 60 and above are over working age.
Inactivity by age and whether available to start work within two weeks Great Britain Age All working age1 16–24 25–44 45–54 55–59 60–64 (men) Not available2 6,434 1,262 2,352 1,244 993 583 Long term sick/disabled 1,988 73 548 600 473 295 Looking after family/home 2,266 254 1,424 377 194 17 Students 919 767 140 12 3— 3— Retired 477 3— 3— 54 191 232 Others 779 168 239 202 132 38 Total inactive (per cent.) 100 100 100 100 100 100 of which Available (per cent.) 10.3 13.0 11.9 8.6 6.3 8.2 Not available2 (per cent.) 89.7 87.0 88.1 91.4 93.7 91.8 Long term sick/disabled (per cent.) 27.7 5.0 20.5 44.1 44.7 46.4 Looking after family/home (per cent.) 31.6 17.5 53.4 27.7 18.3 2.6 Students (per cent.) 12.9 52.8 5.2 0.9 3— 3— Retired (per cent.) 6.7 3— 3— 3.9 18.1 36.6 Others (percent.) 10.9 11.6 9.0 14.8 12.4 6.0 1 Working age is defined as men age 16–64 and women aged 16–59. 2 Not available to start work in the next two weeks including a few people who could not state whether or not they are available. Includes all those not wanting work. 3 Sample size too small for reliable estimate. Source:
Labour Force Survey, summer 1997.
Carers, defined here are those who are inactive because they look after a dependent adult, are a subset of those looking after family/home.
Information about carers is only collected in the autumn LFS. In autumn 1996 in Great Britain an estimated 6 per cent. of those who were unavailable for work because they are looking after family/home were carers.