§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many(a) people were unemployed and (b) job vacancies there were in the Greater London area on 1 April. [122078]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 17 May 2000:
The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your recent question on unemployment and job vacancies in the Greater London area. I am replying in the Director's absence.190WEstimates of economic status are available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The measure of unemployment derived from the LFS is defined on a consistent and internationally recognised basis set out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and counts as unemployed people who are a) without a paid job, b) available to start work within the next two weeks and c) have either looked for work in the last four weeks or are waiting to start a job already obtained.The latest seasonally adjusted estimates from the Labour Force Survey covering winter (December–February) 1999/2000 show there were 268,000 ILO unemployed in the Greater London area.In the closest aggregation of Jobcentres to the Greater London area there were 36,100 unfilled vacancies in March 2000 the latest date for which data are available. Jobcentre vacancies do not represent the total number of vacancies available in the economy. Latest estimates suggest that about a third of all vacancies nationally are notified to Jobcentres. This proportion may vary between regions.