asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many manufacturing jobs were (a) lost and (b) created in (i) Coventry, (ii) west midlands and (iii) nationally in each of the past 10 years.
Information about job gains and job losses is not available from the Department's statistics but an indication of net changes can be seen by comparing levels of employees in employment at different dates.The following tables give the available information. Table 1 gives, for the west midlands region and Great Britain in the years specified, the annual change in the estimated number of employees in employment in manufacturing industries, analysed according to the 1980 standard industrial classification (SIC).Information about employment for local areas is only available from the Department's censuses of employment. Table 2 gives, for the Coventry jobcentre area, the change between each census date since 1974 in the estimated number of employees in employment in manufacturing industries, analysed according to the 1968 SIC. Analyses according to the 1980 SIC are not available for local areas prior to 1981.
| Table 1—Employees in Manufacturing Industries (1980 SIC) | ||
| Change from previous year | ||
| June each year | West Midlands | Great Britain |
| 1975 | −60,000 | −372,000 |
| 1976 | −43,000 | −234,000 |
| 1977 | +13,000 | +52,000 |
| 1978 | −3,000 | −36,000 |
| 1979 | −7,000 | −34,000 |
| 1980 | −52,000 | −309,000 |
| 1981 | −118,000 | −704,000 |
| 1982 | −58,000 | −312,000 |
| 1983 | −44,000 | −286,000 |
| 1984 | −9,000 | −87,000 |
| Table—Employees in Employment in Manufacturing Industries (1968 SIC) | |
| Census date | Change from previous census date Coventry jobcentre area |
| June 1975 | −5,500 |
| June 1976 | −7,200 |
| June 1977 | −1,100 |
| June 1978 | −7,400 |
| September 1981 | −30,200 |