HC Deb 27 May 2004 vol 421 cc1728-9W
Tony Lloyd

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the levels of long-term(a) adult and (b) youth unemployment in Manchester, Central over the last seven years. [175715]

Ruth Kelly

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

Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Tony Lloyd, dated 27 May 2004:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about unemployment. I am replying in his absence. (175715)

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 Manchester Central Parliamentary Constituency.

ONS also compiles statistics on those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) for local areas including parliamentary constituencies.

The table below gives the total number of people who had been claiming JSA for over 12 months and the number of people aged 18 to 24 who had been claiming JSA for over 12 months, for the Manchester Central constituency. The figures are annual averages for each year since 1997.

Number of people claiming JSA for over 12 months 1
All ages Aged 18 to 24
1997 2,403 432
1998 1,691 285
1999 1,445 120
2000 1,199 49
2001 1,117 36
2002 992 49
2003 822 70
1Computerised claims only.

Table 1: Number of people aged 16 to 24 years in long-term unemployment1 Government Office Regions, twelve months ending February

each year from 2000 to 2003

Number
United Kingdom North East North West Yorkshire and Humberside East Midlands West Midlands
2000 67 2 13 7 6 2
2001 66 6 9 5 2 7
2002 64 5 9 5 2 4
2003 61 4 9 5 2 4

Number
Eastern London South East South West Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
2000 2 9 2 2 2 9 2
2001 2 11 4 4 5 2 2
2002 2 13 2 2 3 6 2
2003 2 11 4 2 3 7 2
1 Refers to those who are unemployed over 12 months.
2 Sample size too small for reliable estimates.

Source:

ONS: Labour Force Survey.

Table 2: Number of people aged 18 to 24 years claiming1 Jobseeker's Allowance for more than 12 months Government

Office Regions, April2 of each year from 1986–2004

Number
North East North West Yorkshire and Humberside East Midlands West Midlands Eastern
1986 25,168 54,074 32,455 18,067 37,595 13,804
1987 18,972 45,551 28,843 15,411 31,626 11,046
1988 12,292 29,282 19,365 9,845 20,164 6,350
1989 8,758 20,495 12,191 5,978 12,002 2,822
1990 6,932 15,757 8,655 3,778 8,153 1,839
1991 6,858 17,020 9,630 5,270 9,329 3,389
1992 10,169 25,848 16,419 10,626 18,312 9,375
1993 11,602 29,651 19,854 13,914 24,469 14,352
1994 10,848 25,277 17,247 13,005 21,314 12,950
1995 9,562 20,093 14,319 10,002 16,295 9,592