HL Deb 01 June 1998 vol 590 cc7-8WA
Lord Marlesford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will estimate the number of persons employed in the United Kingdom in the years 1938, 1948, 1958, 1968, 1978, 1988 and 1998 in each of the following industries:

  1. (a) coal mining;
  2. (b) ports and docks;
  3. (c) railways;
  4. (d) steel production;
  5. (e) shipbuilding; and
  6. (f) agriculture.
[HL1917]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter to Lord Marlesford from the Director of the Macro-Economic Statistics and Analysis Group of the Office for National Statistics, Mr. J. Kidgell, dated 24 May 1998.

In the absence of the Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary Question on the number of persons employed in the United Kingdom, by industry, and year.

The figures that are available are set out below. Data for 1948, 1958 and 1968 are taken from British Labour Statistics Historical Abstract 1886–1968, a copy of which is available in the House of Lords Library. For other dates, figures are based on censuses of employment in the nearest available year. Please note that the industry classification has changed several times since 1938, which means that some estimates are not strictly comparable over time.

Employee jobs in United Kingdom
(Thousands)
1948(a) 1958(a) 1968(a) 1978(b) 1989(c) 1996(d)
Coal mining1 794 782 482 295 95 34
Ports and docks2 156 156 136 66 33 32
Railways3 572 495 293 250 148 80
Steel production4 268 306 329 271 104 67
Shipbuilding5 245 215 156 147 53 49
Agriculture6 784 577 385 372 305 289

Source:

(a) British Labour Statistics Historical Abstract 1886–1968. Figures for 1948 and 1958 figures based on Standard Industrial Classification 1948. Figures for 1968 based on Standard Industrial Classification 1958.

(b) GB, 1978 Census of Employment. Figures based on Standard Industrial Classification 1968. Northern Ireland estimates have been especially constructed for this year.

(c) GB, 1989 Census of Employment. Figures based on Standard Industrial Classification 1980. Northern Ireland Department for Economic Development (NIDED) Census figures 1989.

(d) GB, 1996 Annual Employment Survey. Figures based on Standard Industrial Classification 1992. Northern Ireland Department for Economic Development (NIDED) Census figures 1995.

Key:

1 For 1989 the description for this industry is "deep coal mines and opencast coal working" and for 1996 "mining and agglomeration of hard coal".

2 For the years 1948, 1958 and 1968 this industry includes "port, river and canal transport, harbour, dock and canal conservancy". For 1978—"port and inland water transport", 1989—"supporting services to sea transport" and 1996—"inland water transport and other supporting water transport activities".

3 The content and description of this industry has remained consistent over the years shown in the table.

4 The figures shown in the table for this industry include iron and steel. It is not possible to identify some parts of steel manufacture separately (i.e., melting and rolling).

5 The content and description of this industry has remained consistent over the years shown in the table. All of the figures include the manufacture and repair of ships and boats.

6 The content of this industry has remained consistent over the years shown in the table. The description for the years 1948 to 1989 is "agriculture and horticulture", and for 1996 "agriculture, hunting and related service activities".