asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will provide a table showing (a) the total number of vacancies in every quarter since the beginning of 1970, (b) the total number of people unemployed in every quarter since the beginning of 1970 and (c) the figures in column (a) as a percentage of those in column (b).
The following table gives the numbers of unfilled vacancies and the numbers registered as unemployed in Great Britain quarterly from 1970. The vacancy statistics relate only to vacancies notified to employment offices and careers offices; vacancies notified to employment offices are estimated to be about one-third of all vacancies in the country as a whole. Because of this and possible duplication between the separate figures for employment offices and careers offices, the two series should not be added together or used to calculate the percentages requested.
| Unfilled Vacancies | |||
| at Employment Offices | at Careers Offices | Numbers unemployed | |
| 1970 | |||
| March | 184,074 | 79,866 | 601,772 |
| June | 203,826 | 91,675 | 523,638 |
| September | 191,562 | 69,334 | 563,147 |
| December | 159,328 | 51,600 | 604,286 |
| 1971 | |||
| March | 130,206 | 48,618 | 700,040 |
| June | 144,644 | 53,133 | 687,219 |
| September | 124,777 | 44,017 | 796,278 |
| December | 107,142 | 31,607 | 867,588 |
| 1972 | |||
| March | 118,520 | 39,138 | 924,677 |
| June | 155,525 | 47,326 | 765,456 |
| September | 157,830 | 47,462 | 822,969 |
| December | 179,876 | 45,544 | 743,099 |
| 1973 | |||
| March | 244,461 | 62,367 | 682,637 |
| June | 323,250 | 95,954 | 544,957 |
| September | 353,487 | 123,518 | 526,894 |
| December | 348,240 | 108,038 | 484,296 |
| 1974 | |||
| March | 266,523 | 85,791 | 590,071 |
| June | 336,368 | 111,091 | 514,632 |
| September | 307,203 | 91,658 | 617,810 |
| December | * | * | * |
| 1975 | |||
| March | 178,024 | 42,931 | 768,423 |
| June | 158,996 | 34,811 | 828,473 |
| September | 140,786 | 26,807 | 1,096,902 |
| December | 101,035 | 19,679 | 1,152,499 |
| 1976 | |||
| March | 106,910 | 21,226 | 1,234,573 |
| June | 124,837 | 27,719 | 1,277.884 |
| September | 139,347 | 25,596 | 1,395,115 |
| December | * | * | 1,316,000 |
| 1977 | |||
| March | 142,522 | 22,895 | 1,328,081 |
| June | 166,804 | 27,012 | 1,390,401 |
| September | 158,953 | 21,055 | 1,541,844 |
| December | 152,608 | 16,729 | 1,419,726 |
| 1978 | |||
| March | 184,173 | 24,101 | 1,398,980 |
| June | 225,949 | 30,557 | 1,381,403 |
| September | 231,150 | 29,998 | 1,446,708 |
| * Information is not available because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment Group. | |||