§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 8 January 2002,Official Report,columns 797–98W, on employment in the Buckingham 13W constituency, what the average figures for working age employment in the UK were in each year from 1997 to 2001. [30126]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Bercow, dated 28 January 2002:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the proportion of working age people in employment in the United Kingdom. (30126)The Labour Force Survey (LFS) provides estimates of the employment rate of working age people (ie men aged 16–64 and women aged 16–59). The annual estimates for the United Kingdom for each year from 1997/8 to 2000/1 are given in the table overleaf.
Working age1 employment rates2: United Kingdom 1997–98 to 2000–01 Not seasonally adjusted Percentage March 1997 to February 1998 72.8 March 1998 to February 1999 73.5 March 1999 to February 2000 73.8 March 2000 to February 2001 74.1 1 Men aged 16–64 and women aged 16–59 2 Total employed of working age as a percentage of all persons of working age Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey (annual LADB dataset)