§ James PurnellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the level of unemployment was in each year since 1997 in Stalybridge and Hyde. [168763]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
868WLetter from Len Cook to Mr. James Purnell, dated 27 April 2004:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about unemployment.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of unemployment from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) following International Labour Organisation definitions. However, the LFS sample size is too small to give reliable estimates of unemployment in the Stalybridge and Hyde Parliamentary Constituency.ONS also compiles statistics of those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) for local areas including parliamentary constituencies.The table below gives the annual average number of JSA claimants for the Stalybridge and Hyde constituency for each year since 1997.
Annual average number of JSA claimants for Stalybridge and Hyde constituency Number 1997 2,170 1998 1,826 1999 1,855 2000 1,565 2001 1,348 2002 1,294 2003 1,309