§ Mr. George OsborneTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many economically inactive persons aged 18 to 24 there are; and what the number was in April 1997. [148851]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. George Osborne, dated 19 January 2004:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about economically inactive people aged 18 to 24. I am replying in his absence. (148851)
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) gives information about economic inactivity for each three month period, but not for individual months. The latest available estimate, for the three month period ending November 2003, is that there were 1.32 million economically inactive people aged 18 to 24 resident in the United Kingdom during this period. The estimate for the three month period ending April 1997 is 1.13 million. These estimates are seasonally adjusted.
As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to sampling variability.