HC Deb 20 January 2004 vol 416 cc1170-2W
Mr. Stephen O'Brien

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what the(a) actual and (b) percentage change in private sector employment was in each month since 1997; [146143]

(2) how many people have been employed in (a) the public and (b) the private sector in each quarter over the last ten years. [148188]

Ruth Kelly

I have been asked to reply.

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

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Stephen O'Brien, dated 20 January 2004: As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about jobs in the public and private sectors. (146143, 148188) Job levels for the private and public sectors are obtained from administrative returns from public bodies and the Labour Force Survey, and are available only on an annual basis. The attached table shows the number of UK jobs in the public and private sectors for each of the ten years from 1993 to 2002, the latest year for which data are available. The table also shows the actual and percentage annual changes.

Numbers of public and private sector jobs in the UK, 1993–2002
Thousands
Number of jobs Annual change Annual percentage change
Public Private Public Private Public Private
1993 5,477 20,791
1994 5,292 21,229 -185 438 -3.4 2.7
1995 5,211 21,995 -81 766 -1.5 3.6
1996 5,069 22,307 -142 312 -2.7 1.4
1997 4,954 22,811 -115 504 -2.3 2.3
1998 4,944 23,083 -10 272 -0.2 1.2
1999 5,094 23,272 150 189 3.0 0.8
2000 5,094 23,537 0 265 0.0 1.1
2001 5,212 23,521 118 -16 2.3 -0.1
2002 5,298 23,610 86 89 1.7 0.4

Source:

Labour Force Survey and administrative returns from public bodies

Mr. Stephen O'Brien

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people were in(a) public and (b) private sector employment, broken down by (i) salary and (ii) employment type for each of the last ten years. [148187]

Ruth Kelly

I have been asked to reply.

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

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Stephen O'Brien, dated 20 January 2004: As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about jobs in the public and private sectors. (148187) The Labour Force Survey (LFS) provides information on earnings and employment type by sector. However, these figures are based on respondents' own perception of the sector in which they work, and may not correspond to the official classifications of the public and private sector. Table 1 shows the average gross weekly earnings of full-time employees in the UK, split by sector. Table 2 shows the proportions of full-time and part-time employees in both the public and private sectors. In both cases, data are for twelve month periods ending in November in the years 1994–2003. Information on the number of jobs in the public and private sectors in each year from 1993–2002 has been provided in an answer to another recent Parliamentary Question that you have asked (148188). However, please note that this information is provided for calendar years and is derived from other sources besides the LFS. It is therefore not consistent with the information on earnings and employment type given in this answer.

Table 1: Average gross weekly earnings of full-time employees in the UK
£
Year1 Public Sector Private Sector
1994 328 291
1995 332 303

Table 1: Average gross weekly earnings of full-time employees in the UK
£
Year1 Public Sector Private Sector
1996 346 315
1997 355 329
1998 367 345
1999 383 363
2000 396 382
2001 414 403
2002 431 417
2003 448 431
1 12 month period ending in November of given year

Source:

Labour Force Survey

Table 2: Percentage of UK public and private sector jobs that are full and part time
Percentage of total employment
Private Sector Public Sector
Year1 Full Time Part Time Full Time Part Time
1994 78 22 73 27
1995 78 22 72 28
1996 77 23 71 29
1997 77 23 70 30
1998 77 23 70 30
1999 77 23 71 29
2000 77 23 70 30
2001 77 23 70 30
2002 77 23 70 30
2003 76 24 70 30
1 12 month period ending in November of given year

Source:

Labour Force Survey

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