Unemployment

HC Deb 23 May 2002 vol 386 cc566-7W

Paul Holmes

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will restore the 1979 methods of calculating the official level of unemployment; [58760]

(2)if he will estimate the level of current unemployment using methods of counting claimants used in 1979; [58758]

(3) what changes were made between 1979 and 1997 to the way in which the official level of unemployment was calculated. [58759]

Ruth Kelly

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Paul Holmes, dated 23 May 2002:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary questions; (a) if he will restore the 1979 methods of calculating the official level of unemployment, (b) if he will estimate the level of current unemployment using methods of claimants used in 1979 and (c) what changes were made between 1979 and 1997 to the way in which the official level of unemployment was calculated. (58758, 58759, 58760)

The monthly measure of UK unemployment used in 1979 was the count of registrants at Jobcentres. This was based on an administrative system which no longer exists. Consequently it is not possible to restore the 1979 method of calculation nor to estimate the current level on the same basis.

Since April 1998, monthly statistics of unemployment in the UK have been compiled and published, following the internationally standard definition, from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). This 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 Labour Force Survey measure of unemployment has been compiled and published on the same definition—following the guidelines of the International Labour Organisation—since 1984.

The ONS also publishes monthly statistics of the numbers of people who are claiming unemployment-related benefits, known as the claimant count. Details of changes which have affected the coverage or calculation of these monthly figures between 1979 and 1997 are detailed in articles in the November 1995 and April 1998 editions of Labour Market Trends.