The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 16 April 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about how many economically inactive people of working age there were in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex in age groups (i) 18 to 24, (ii) 25 to 50 and (iii) 50 years old or more in each year since 19911 (130963)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of inactivity from the annual local area Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation definitions.
Table 1, attached, shows the number of economically inactive persons, aged 16 to 24, 25 to 49, 50 to retirement age and for all persons of working age, resident in the Eastbourne constituency, from the annual local area LFS for the 12-month periods ending in February from 1997 to 2004 and from the APS for the 12-month periods ending in March from 2005 to 2006. These numbers are also expressed as a percentage of the relevant population. Table 2 shows similar information for East Sussex.
As these estimates are for a subset of the population in a small geographical area, they are based on very small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty. In this case, the sample sizes are not sufficient to give an accurate estimate of even the direction of the change over the period.
All estimates refer to the current administrative East Sussex area.
Thousand 16 to 24 25 to 49 50 to retirement age1 All persons of working age2 12 months ending Level Rate (%) Level Rate (%) Level Rate (%) Level Rate (%) February 1997 3 31 3 11 3 33 10 19 February 1998 2 24 5 16 4 42 11 22 February 1999 2 18 6 19 2 19 10 19 February 2000 3— 3— 5 17 2 21 8 17 February 2001 2 29 4 11 5 47 11 21 February 2002 1 12 4 14 5 39 11 21 February 2003 3 28 5 15 3 25 11 20 February 2004 2 21 7 20 3 21 11 20 March 2005 2 21 5 17 4 26 11 20 March 2006 3 21 4 14 4 29 11 19 1 Males aged 50 to 64 and females aged 50 to 59. 2 Males aged 16 to 64 and females aged 16 to 59. 3 Sample size too small to provide estimates. Notes:1. Estimates are subject to sampling variability. 2. Changes in the estimates over time should be treated with caution. Source: Annual local area Labour Force Survey; Annual Population Survey.
Thousand 16 to 24 25 to 49 50 to retirement age1 All persons of working age2 12 months ending Level Rate (%) Level Rate (%) Level Rate (%) Level Rate (%) February 1997 11 26 20 13 19 29 50 19 February 1998 9 24 22 15 21 30 53 21 February 1999 6 14 22 15 22 31 50 19 February 2000 8 18 21 14 15 22 44 16 February 2001 11 26 16 11 18 24 46 17 February 2002 10 23 22 14 21 27 53 19 February 2003 11 24 22 15 21 26 54 20 February 2004 8 18 25 16 20 25 53 19 March 2005 10 23 21 14 23 27 54 19 March 2006 10 23 25 16 22 26 57 20