The Government’s measures to increase employment build on a platform of macro-economic stability and economic growth, and include continued investment in the new deal, investment in skills and training, and the national minimum wage and tax credits to make work pay.
Employment is now at a record high, with 2.5 million more people in work than in 1997, and the highest rate of the G7 economies. The national roll out of Pathways to Work, and the other measures set out in the Government’s Welfare Reform Green Paper, will build on this record with ambitious plans to help people move from inactivity to work.
(2) what the employment rate was of men between the ages of 16 and 64 years in each year from 1976 to 2006, broken down by age range; and if he will make a statement.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 24 October 2006:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about employment rates by age from 1976 to 2006. (96118,96112)
Table 1 gives the annual employment rates by gender, also showing changes for each year from 1976 to 2006.
Table 2 gives a breakdown of employment rates by gender and age bands from 1992 to 2006. Comparable estimates by age ranges are not available for earlier periods.
Both tables are based on annual averages ending in December for each year.
Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Percentage All persons Men Women 12 months ending December each year All Change on year All Change on year All Change on year 1976 74.6 — 88.8 — 59.1 — 1977 74.2 0.4 88.1 -0.8 59.0 -0.1 1978 73.9 4.3 87.5 -0.6 59.3 0.3 1979 74.0 0.1 87.1 -0.3 59.9 0.6 1980 73.2 -0.8 85.4 -1.7 60.0 0.1 1981 70.8 -2.4 81.8 -3.7 58.9 -1.0 1982 69.2 -1.7 79.3 -2.4 58.1 -0.9 1983 68.1 -1.1 77.7 -1.6 57.7 -0.4 1984 69.1 1.0 78.1 0.4 59.2 1.6 1985 69.8 0.7 78.3 0.2 60.5 1.3 1986 70.0 0.2 77.9 -0.4 61.4 0.9 1987 71.0 1.0 78.6 0.7 62.7 1.3 1988 73.0 2.1 80.7 2.1 64.7 2.0 1989 74.6 1.6 82.2 1.5 66.4 1.7 1990 74.9 0.3 82.2 0.0 67.0 0.6 1991 73.0 -1.9 79.3 -2.9 66.1 -0.9 1992 71.0 -2.0 76.3 -3.0 65.3 -0.9 1993 70.3 -0.7 75.1 -1.2 65.1 -0.1 1994 70.7 0.4 75.7 0.6 65.4 0.3 1995 71.3 0.6 76.3 0.6 66.0 0.5. 1996 71.9 0.6 76.7 0.4 66.8 0.8 1997 72.8 0.9 77.8 1.1 67.4 0.7 1998 73.4 0.6 78.4 0.6 68.0 0.6 1999 73.9 0.5 78.8 0.4 68.8 0.7 2000 74.4 0.4 79.2 0.4 69.2 0.5 2001 74.5 0.1 79.3 0.1 69.4 0.1 2002 74.5 0.0 79.1 -0.2 69.6 0.2 2003 74.6 0.2 79.3 0.2 69.7 0.1 2004 74.8 0.1 79.3 0.0 70.0 0.3 2005 74.8 0.0 79.1 -0.2 70.1 0.2 20063 74.6 -0.2 78.8 -0.3 70.1 0.0 1 People in employment as a percentage of all persons. 2 Men aged 16 to 64 and women age 16 to 59. 3 Eight months ending August 2006. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS).
Percentage 12 months ending December each year All 16-59/64 16-17 18-24 25-34 35-49 50-59/64 All persons 19923 70.8 47.4 65.0 73.6 79.5 62.7 1993 70.3 44.0 63.8 73.9 79.0 61.9 1994 70.7 44.7 63.6 74.8 79.0 62.5 1995 71.3 45.6 64.5 75.6 79.2 63.1 1996 71.9 46.6 65.5 76.0 79.7 63.6 1997 72.8 48.3 66.4 77.8 80.1 64.5 1998 73.4 48.5 66.8 78.4 80.8 65.6 1999 73.9 46.8 67.2 79.5 81.2 66.3 2000 74.4 46.1 67.6 80.0 81.8 66.8 2001 74.5 45.2 67.6 79.8 81.8 67.7 2002 74.5 43.7 67.7 79.6 81.9 68.2 2003 74.6 43.0 66.6 79.6 82.0 69.6 2004 74.8 41.4 67.0 79.8 82.1 70.0 2005 74.8 39.1 65.6 80.4 82.3 70.4 20064 74.6 35.7 65.3 80.4 82.3 70.7 Men 19923 76.0 47.2 67.2 83.1 86.4 65.5 1993 75.1 43.7 65.7 83.0 85.4 64.4 1994 75.7 44.5 66.2 84.0 85.6 64.6 1995 76.3 45.0 67.6 84.7 86.1 65,0 1996 76.7 45.5 68.4 84.8 86.1 65.9 1997 77.8 46.7 69.6 86.6 86.7 67.3 1998 78.4 47.3 70.0 87.5 87.4 68.0 1999 78.8 45.2 70.7 88.0 87.8 68.6 2000 79.2 44.8 71.2 88.6 88.5 68.8 2001 79.3 44.5 71.2 88.4 88.3 70.0 2002 79.1 41.7 70.8 88.0 88.4 70.3 2003 79.3 40.7 69.9 87.8 88.6 71.6 2004 79.3 38.7 70.1 87.6 88.8 72.0 2005 79.1 36.9 68.6 88.2 88.5 72.4 20064 78.8 32.4 67.9 88.5 88.5 72.4 Women 19923 65.2 47.7 62.7 64.2 72.6 58.7 1993 65.1 44.3 61.9 64.9 72.6 58.5 1994 65.4 44.8 60.9 65.7 72.6 59.6 1995 66.0 46.3 61.4 66.7 72.5 60.4 1996 66.8 47.7 62.7 67.5 73.5 60.3 1997 67.4 50.1 63.2 69.1 73.7 60.7 1998 68.0 49.7 63.6 69.4 74.3 62.3 1999 68.8 48.5 63.8 71.1 74.7 63.0 2000 69.2 47.4 63.9 71.7 75.1 64.0 2001 69.4 46.0 64.1 71.5 75.5 64.6 2002 69.6 45.8 64.5 71.4 75.6 65.4 2003 69.7 45.4 63.3 71.5 75.5 66.9 2004 70.0 44.2 63.8 72.2 75.6 67.2 2005 70.1 41.5 62.5 72.6 76.3 67.8 20064 70.1 39.0 62.6 72.5 76.1 68.3 1 People in employment as a percentage of all persons. 2 Men aged 16 to 64 and women age 16 to 59. 3 Eight months ending December 2002. 4 Eight months ending August 2006. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS).