§ Chris RuaneTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of unemployment payments(a) in total and (b) as a percentage of national income in each of the last 25 years. [186102]
§ Mr. PondI have been asked to reply.
The information is in the table.
Unemployment benefits (£ million)
Nominal terms1.2
2004–05 prices1.2
Percentage of gross domestic
product1
1979–80 1,176 3,752 0.6 1980–81 2,074 5,600 0.9 1981–82 3,214 7,923 1.2 1982–83 4,067 9,364 1.4 1983–84 4,753 10,464 1.5 1984–85 5,308 11,104 1.6 1985–86 5,803 11,519 1.6 1986–87 6,070 11,676 1.6 1987–88 5,453 9,934 1.3 1988–89 4,152 7,070 0.9 1989–90 3,364 5,352 0.6 1990–91 3,810 5,618 0.7 1991–92 5,804 8,071 1.0 1992–93 7,139 9,615 1.2 1993–94 7,389 9,693 1.1 1994–95 6,482 8,381 0.9 1995–96 5,925 7,445 0.8 1996–97 5,112 6,215 0.7 1997–98 3,893 4,615 0.5 1998–99 3,558 4,099 0.4 1999–2000 3,255 3,670 0.4 2000–01 2,882 3,213 0.3 2001–02 2,606 2,832 0.3 2002–03 2,624 2,760 0.2 2003–04 2,548 2,606 0.2 1Unemployment benefits totals are rounded to the nearest million; the percentage of gross domestic product has been rounded to nearest 0.1 per cent. 2Unemployment benefits include: unemployment benefit, which was replaced by jobseeker's allowance contribution-based in October 1996; supplementary benefit paid to unemployed people, which was replaced by income support for the unemployed in April 1988, and was further replaced by jobseeker's allowance (income-based) in October 1996.