Unemployment Statistics

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report for each year for the period 1945 to 1981 total unemployment in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries; what percentage of the working population each figure represents; and if he will indicate any adjustments required because of new members to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The available information published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development gives a total unemployment rate for 15 OECD countries for each year since 1965.

Unemployment in fifteen OECD countries as per cent, of total labour force
Year
1965	2·6
1966	2·5
1967	2·8
1968	2·8
1969	2·6
1970	3·0
1971	3·5
1972	3·6
1973	3·2
1974	3·5
1975	5·1
1976	5·2
1977	5·3
1978	5·1
1979	5·1
1980	5·8
1981	6·8

Note:

The fifteen OECD countries are United States, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

These countries represented, in 1980, about 85 per cent. of unemployment in all OECD countries.

In 1981, it is estimated that there was an average of 25 million unemployed in all OECD countries.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the latest figure for whole-time unemployment in Eastleigh; and how the percentage rate compares with the figures for Hampshire, the South-East of England and the United Kingdom, respectively.

The following is the provisional information at 13 May:

	Number registered as unemployed	Percentage rate of unemployment
Eastleigh employment office area	1,791	^*8·5
Hampshire	53,634	9·3
South-East region	685,857	9·1
United Kingdom	2,969,443	12·4
^* The rate relates to the Southampton travel-to-work area which comprises the Southampton, Eastleigh, Hythe, Romsey and Winchester employment office areas. Rates are not calculated for the constituent parts of travel-to-work areas.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give for the latest available date the number of registered disabled people who are unemployed; and what percentage of total registered unemployed disabled people this represents for the following categories (a) blind, (b) totally or severely deaf, (c) epileptic, (d) mentally handicapped and (e) mentally ill.

At 8 April 1982, the latest available date, the total number of registered disabled people unemployed was 76,939. The information requested for the specific categories of disabled people is:

	Registered disabled people unemployed	Per cent, of total registered disabled people unemployed
(a) Blind	929	1·2
(b) Totally or severely deaf	1,872	2·4
(c) Epileptic	5,182	6·7
(d) Mentally handicapped	3,647	4·7
(e) Mentally ill	5,070	6·6

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish at the latest available dale the numbers of and percentages of unemployed registered disabled people and the unemployed among the total United Kingdom work force who have been unemployed (a) up to two weeks, (b) over two weeks and up to four weeks, (c) over four weeks and up to six weeks, (d) over six weeks and up to eight weeks, (e) over eight weeks and up to 13 weeks, (f)over 13 weeks and up to 26 weeks, (g) over 26 weeks and up to 52 weeks and (h) over 52 weeks.

I refer the right hon. Member to my reply of 7 December 1981—[Vol. 14, c. 253–4]—which gave the latest available figures.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give for the latest available date the number of registered disabled people, the number of those unemployed and the percentage of the total that represents.

At 19 April 1982, the latest date for which such information is available, there were 447,259 registered disabled people. The number of those unemployed at 8 April 1982 was 76,939, representing 17·2 per cent. of the total.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number and percentage of registered and unregistered disabled people unemployed in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available.

The numbers and percentages of registered disabled people unemployed and the numbers of unregistered disabled people unemployed are shown below. It is not possible to calculate the percentage of unregistered disabled people unemployed.

Wolverhampton employment office area
	Males				Females
Duration in weeks	Under 25	25–54	55 and over	All ages	Under 25	25–54	55 and over	All ages
2 or less	157	141	39	337	94	40	5	139
Over 2 and up to 4 weeks	163	172	37	372	120	57	8	185
Over 4 and up to 8 weeks	321	423	110	854	235	151	7	393
Over 8 and up to 13 weeks	335	426	89	850	273	145	10	428
Over 13 and up to 26 weeks	686	821	254	1,761	399	296	35	730
Over 26 and up to 52 weeks	1,163	1,294	527	2,984	774	500	56	1,330
Over 52 and up to 104 weeks	1,110	2,125	796	4,031	491	429	91	1,011
Over 104 and up to 156 weeks	260	622	185	1,067	117	149	28	294
Over 156 weeks	78	513	221	812	46	149	38	233
Total	4,273	6,537	2,258	13,068	2,549	1,916	278	4,743

West Midlands region
	Males				Females
Duration in weeks	Under 25	25–54	55 and over	All ages	Under 25	25–54	55 and over	All ages
2 or less	3,955	3,231	889	8,075	2,884	1,382	128	4,394
Over 2 and up to 4 weeks	3,147	4,060	1,131	8,338	2,173	1,764	133	4,070
Over 4 and up to 8 weeks	5,692	7,559	2,097	15,348	4,148	3,266	260	7,674
Over 8 and up to 13 weeks	6,440	8,457	2,431	17,328	4,586	3,768	320	8,674
Over 13 and up to 26 weeks	12,393	19,268	7,098	38,759	8,630	7,378	838	16,846
Over 26 and up to 52 weeks	18,829	27,682	12,422	58,933	13,037	10,987	1,480	25,504
Over 52 and up to 104 weeks	18,289	39,409	15,592	73,290	8,099	9,400	1,793	19,292
Over 104 and up to 156 weeks	4,075	10,213	3,362	17,650	1,878	2,404	521	4,803
Over 156 weeks	1,102	7,985	4,573	13,660	794	2,135	825	3,754
Total	73,922	127,864	49,595	251,381	46,229	42,484	6,298	95,011

Volume 24: debated on Tuesday 25 May 1982