§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many(a) women aged 55 to 60 years and (b) men aged 60 to 65 years were in full-time employment in the Greater London area on 1 February. [113834]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
852WLetter from John Pullinger to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 10 March 2000:
The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on older people in full-time employment in Greater London on 1 February 2000. I am replying in Dr Holt's absence.The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the government's main source of labour market data on individuals. The most recent data available from the LFS is for autumn (September to November) 1999. In this quarter, the LFS estimated the number of women aged 55 to 59 in full-time employment in London as 51,000. During the same period, the number of men in full-time employment aged 60 to 64 in London was also 51,000.People aged 16 or over are classed as in employment by the LFS if they have done at least one hour of paid work (as an employee or self-employed) in the week prior to their LFS interview or if they have a job that they are temporarily away from. People who do unpaid work in a family business and people on Government supported training and employment programmes are also included according to the International Labour Organisation convention.The definition of whether somebody is working full or part-time is based on the respondent's self assessment.