(2) what estimate he has made of the number of non-UK citizens who were economically active in the UK labour supply in each year since 1997; and what proportion of the labour force this represented in each year;
(3) what estimate he has made of the number of individuals registered as inactive in the UK due to sickness and disability; and what benchmarking he has conducted of this number against numbers in other EU member states;
(4) how many and what proportion of people in the working age population were non-UK citizens in each year since 1997.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 24 July2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your four parliamentary questions about economic activity and economic inactivity. The replies to these four questions have been combined. I am replying in her absence. (151470, 151489, .151490, 151491)
Table 1 gives estimates of the numbers of UK and foreign nationals of working age and the numbers and rates of economic activity for the three months ending December in each year for 1997, 1999 and 2001 to 2006. Comparable estimates are not available for 1998 and 2000. These estimates are not seasonally adjusted. The data shown are based on labour force survey (LFS) household population and not the total UK population to enable consistent economic activity data to be shown. It should be noted the LFS data shown by nationality:
excludes those who have not been resident in the UK for six months
excludes students in halls who do not have a UK resident parent
excludes people in most other types of communal establishments (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites, etc.)
is consistent with population estimates that only includes migrants staying for 12 months or more
is consistent with population estimates published in spring 2003 which are significantly lower than the latest population estimates and also the headline labour market statistics published each month by the Office for National Statistics; LFS estimates by nationality for the period requested are not yet available consistent with latest population estimates.
Table 2 gives estimates of the economically inactive people split by those who want a job and those who do not want a job. A further disaggregation for those who are long term sick or disabled is also shown. These data are for the three months ending December 2006, and are not seasonally adjusted.
Estimates for economic inactivity for EU member states are available from the Eurostat website which is accessible via the House of Commons Library.
The LFS estimates at the detailed level required for this answer are only available consistent with the UK population estimates published in February and March 2003 and do not yet incorporate the more recent population estimates that are used in the headline labour market series.
Estimates are taken from the LFS. As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
All persons of working age 1, 2 Economically active Total Non-UK nationals UK nationals Non-UK nationals Three months ending December each year Numbers (thousand) Numbers (thousand) % of total Numbers (thousand) Rates (%)3 Numbers (thousand) Rates (%)3 1997 35,209 1,604 4.6 26,504 78.9 1,082 67.5 1999 35,473 1,659 4.7 26,881 79.5 1,107 66.7 2001 35,897 1,929 5.4 26,896 79.2 1,300 67.4 2002 36,068 2,066 5.7 27,015 79.5 1,414 68.5 2003 36,213 2,130 5.9 26,968 79.1 1,460 68.5 2004 36,364 2,332 6.4 26,955 79.2 1,646 70.6 2005 36,510 2,451 6.7 26,908 79.0 1,767 72.1 2006 36,652 2,757 7.5 26,862 79.2 2,052 74.4 1 LFS microdata for working age household population that excludes communal establishments, is consistent with population estimates first published in spring 2003. 2 Men aged 16 to 64 and women age 16 to 59. 3 Economically active people of working age as a percentage of all persons. Notes: 1 Comparable data are not available for 1998 and 2000. 2 It should also be noted that the nationality question in the LFS is an undercount because: - it excludes those who have not been resident in the UK for six months. - it excludes students in halls who do not have a UK resident parent. - it excludes people in most other types of communal establishments (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites, etc). - it is grossed to population estimates that only include migrants staying for 12 months or more. - microdata is only grossed to population estimates consistent with those published in spring 2003 which are significantly lower than the latest population estimates. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS)
Thousand All persons Wants a job Does not want a job All inactive 7,739 2,025 5,714 of whom: Long-term sick or disabled 2,048 601 1,447 1 LFS microdata for working age household population that excludes communal establishments, is consistent with population estimates first published in spring 2003. 2 Men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS)