asked the Paymaster General if he has any plans to introduce more accurate assessments of the numbers in employment and the registered unemployed.
I currently have no plans for changing the methods of estimating the numbers employed and unemployed.
asked the Paymaster General if, on the basis of the labour force survey, he will list how many (a) men, (b) women, (c) men and women (i) said they would like a job and were available to start work in the next two weeks, (ii) said they would like a job but were not available to start work in the next two weeks but had sought work in the last four weeks and (iii) said they would like a job; and if he will provide estimates for Scotland, Wales and each region.
[pursuant to his reply, 5 May 1987, c. 332]: I am able to give the figures requested but I trust that the hon. Member is not going to take any of this 'very partial selection of figures as any estimate of the number of unemployed people.Estimates from the preliminary labour force survey results for the spring of 1986 of the number of people who said they would like a job for whatever reason are as shown in column 1 of the table. Columns 2 and 3 of the table extract the figures requested for those people who said they would like work and were available to start work within two weeks or, if not available, had looked for work in the last four weeks.Of those people who said they were available for work, 1,357,000 had made no attempt to find a job in the last four weeks. This should be taken into account under any analysis, as is the case under internationally accepted definitions. On the basis of the accepted ILO definition and on the basis of the labour force survey, fewer than 3 million people were unemployed both in 1985 and 1986.
Region/Sex
| All who would like a job, of which:
| Available to start within two weeks
| Not available, but had looked in last four weeks
|
| East Midlands | 350 | 283 | 16 |
| East Anglia | 160 | 122 | *
|
| South East | 1,390 | 1,093 | 78 |
| South West | 346 | 278 | 15 |
| West Midlands | 538 | 456 | 18 |
| North West | 746 | 605 | 33 |
| Wales | 322 | 255 | 10 |
| Scotland | 555 | 461 | 14 |
Men
| |||
| Great Britain | 2,608 | 2,245 | 104 |
| Northern | 204 | 176 | *
|
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 263 | 233 | *
|
| East Midlands | 164 | 140 | *
|
| East Anglia | 66 | 54 | *
|
| South East | 641 | 547 | 33 |
| South West | 156 | 132 | *
|
| West Midlands | 273 | 240 | 11 |
| North West | 384 | 327 | 18 |
| Wales | 171 | 141 | 5 |
| Scotland | 285 | 254 | *
|
Women
| |||
| Great Britain | 2,688 | 2,047 | 116 |
| Northern | 169 | 131 | *
|
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 252 | 199 | *
|
| East Midlands | 185 | 143 | *
|
| East Anglia | 94 | 67 | *
|
| South East | 749 | 546 | 46 |
| South West | 189 | 146 | *
|
| West Midlands | 264 | 216 | *
|
| North West | 363 | 277 | 15 |
| Wales | 151 | 114 | 5 |
| Scotland | 271 | 207 | *
|
* Less than ten thousand | |||
asked the Paymaster General if he will publish the April unemployment rates for the United Kingdom and for each region including Scotland and Wales using the new employment estimates contained in the 1984 Census of Employment.
[pursuant to his reply, 5 May 1987, c. 331]: We plan to publish unemployment rates incorporating new employment estimates which take account of the 1984 census of employment results on Thursday 14 May 1987. At that time, revised regional and national rates will be available in the Library.