The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 15 November 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about how many people in Wales were (a) unemployed and (b) economically inactive, broken down by (i) age group and (ii) sex, in each year since 1997. I am replying in her absence. (162895)
The attached table gives the number of people in the categories requested for the three month period ending June each year, from 1997 to 2007. Comparable estimates are not available for 1998 and 2000.
Each month the ONS publishes estimates of the number of unemployed people in Wales, for 16+ and working age (men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59). Please visit the following link;
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/LMs_FR_HS/WebTable18SA.xls
As with any sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
thousand 1997 1999 2001 2002 2003 Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive 16-19 Male 11 23 11 32 9 29 9 28 10 33 Female 6 27 7 29 6 30 6 37 6 33 20-24 Male 14 10 11 15 11 17 9 17 7 17 Female 8 24 5 26 6 26 5 38 5 25 25-29 Male 8 7 8 10 9 8 4 7 5 8 Female 7 24 4 28 3 26 3 26 3— 21 30-34 Male 8 8 6 7 4 7 3 11 4 10 Female 4 31 6 32 3 28 4 28 2 21 35-39 Male 7 10 5 8 3 12 3 9 2 8 Female 6 26 2 27 4 31 3 24 1 20 40-44 Male 4 12 3 9 3 16 3 10 3 10 Female 2 22 2 21 2 25 3— 20 1 23 45-49 Male 7 13 5 13 2 15 4 15 2 11 Female 3 24 3 20 1 27 2 21 3— 18 50-54 Male 4 22 7 19 3 20 2 19 4 17 Female 3 34 1 40 3— 33 3 34 3— 29 55-59 Male 2 28 3 32 3 30 2 28 3 31 Female 3— 39 2 39 3— 49 1 49 2 41 60-64 Male 3 42 2 42 2 50 3 47 1 40
2004 2005 2006 2007 Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive Unemployed Inactive 16-19 Male 7 26 11 35 9 39 12 35 Female 5 31 6 32 4 32 11 30 20-24 Male 3 14 5 24 13 21 13 17 Female 8 32 5 29 5 26 6 31 25-29 Male 3 5 4 13 10 9 4 5 Female 2 21 3 16 2 19 2 23 30-34 Male 2 12 2 6 3 7 3— 7 Female 3 27 2 24 2 22 3— 21 35-39 Male 2 9 3 8 3 9 2 9 Female 4 25 2 24 4 26 5 21 40-44 Male 3 14 4 13 3 9 3 9 Female 1 21 1 26 5 24 3 27 45-49 Male 2 12 3 9 2 11 3 10 Female 2 21 3— 21 2 21 5 20 50-54 Male 3 13 3 16 2 15 3 18 Female 2 28 3— 25 2 26 3— 25 55-59 Male 3— 30 2 34 2 26 3 27 Female 2 45 3— 48 2 42 2 45 60-64 Male 3— 45 3— 45 1 45 3— 45 1 Men aged 16 to 64 and Women aged 16 to 59. 2 Comparable estimates are not available for 1998 and 2000. 3 Sample sizes are too small to provide reliable estimates. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS)