§ Mr. George OsborneTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many(a) unemployment claimants and (b) job vacancies there were in each region of the UK in each of the last 12 months. [172127]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. George Osborne, dated 12 May 2004:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about unemployed claimants and job vacancies in each region of the UK in each of the last 12 months. (172127)
The attached Table 1 gives the number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance, seasonally adjusted, for each Government Office Region, and for the UK in total, for each of the 12 months up to March 2004.
The attached Table 2 shows the total numbers of job vacancies in the UK for each month, according to the ONS Vacancy Survey. These vacancy statistics are not available for regions. As these statistics only began in April 2001, they are not yet available on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Jobcentre vacancy statistics, which used to be available by region, were withdrawn from National Statistics in September 2001 as a result of distortions to the data which occurred following the introduction of new administrative procedures by Jobcentre Plus.
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Table 1: Monthly average number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance (seasonally adjusted) April 2003—March 2004, UK Government Office Regions Thousand Government Office Region April May June July August September October November December 2003 March East Midlands 59.0 59.6 60.2 59.7 59.3 59.3 59.1 58.3 57.4 Eastern 58.5 59.2 59.4 58.6 58.0 57.8 57.5 57.5 57.0 London 172.0 172.8 172.8 171.6 170.9 170.5 170.2 169.3 168.6 North East 53.6 54.5 53.4 52.5 52.2 52.0 51.3 50.8 50.0 North West 112.9 113.9 113.4 112.1 110.6 110.4 109.5 107.7 105.9 Northern Ireland 34.3 35.0 35.1 34.1 34.5 34.6 34.7 34.3 34.0 Scotland 99.7 100.3 100.8 99.8 98.6 99.6 99.4 98.6 97.9 South East 75.7 76.3 76.5 76.2 75.9 76.2 76.0 75.9 75.3 South West 48.8 49.6 49.9 49.1 48.4 48.1 47.6 46.7 45.8 Wales 45.5 45.7 45.6 45.0 44.3 43.6 43.2 42.7 42.1 West Midlands 95.3 95.8 95.6 94.9 94.6 94.3 94.2 93.6 93.1 Yorkshire and The Humber 84.6 85.8 85.7 84.0 82.9 82.7 81.9 80.1 78.4 UK 939.9 948.5 948.4 937.6 930.2 929.1 924.6 915.5 905.5
Government Office Region January February March 2004 March East Midlands 55.6 54.8 54.7 Eastern 56.3 56.4 56.5 London 167.2 166.0 165.3 North East 49.1 48.2 47.7 North West 103.2 103.2 102.5 Northern Ireland 33.5 33.0 32.5 Scotland 96.2 96.2 95.9 South East 74.5 74.0 73.6 South West 44.6 44.0 43.7 Wales 41.5 41.5 41.5 West Midlands 92.6 92.1 91.6 Yorkshire and The Humber 77.4 77.0 76.7 UK 891.7 886.4 882.2 Source: Jobcentre Plus administrative system.
Table 2: Monthly number of job vacancies (not seasonally adjusted) UK, April 2003 to March 2004 Thousand Month/year Number of vacancies 2003 April 564.5 May 605.3 June 578.8 July 568.6 August 609.9 September 642.7 October 651.3 November 620.3 December 552.0 2004 January 515.9 February 622.1 March 629.0 source: ONS Vacancy Survey.