Employment: Lone Parents

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the employment rate of (a) male and (b) female lone parents was in each region in each quarter of the last 10 years. (174838)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 7 January 2008:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about lone parent employment rates. (174838)

The information requested is given in the attached tables. The figures in the tables are estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for the three month period ending in June of 1997, 1999 and 2001-2007. This information is not available for every quarter of each year. Comparable estimates are not currently available for 1998 or 2000.

As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.

*Employment rate of working age*¹ *lone parents with dependent children*² *by region and sex, April to June 1997, 1999, 2001-07, not seasonally adjusted*
Percentage
	North East	North West	Yorkshire and Humberside	East Midlands	West Midlands	Eastern	London
Lone fathers
1997	50	63	54	52	62	81	41
1998	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
1999	43	62	50	62	63	70	36
2000	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
2001	38	71	58	70	57	82	75
2002	75	70	63	79	69	79	66
2003	53	68	69	68	85	68	81
2004	54	55	73	65	59	74	63
2005	69	61	67	58	75	70	60
2006	52	65	72	64	80	68	56
2007	38	44	71	65	66	86	53

Lone mothers
1997	41	43	48	50	43	46	35
1998	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
1999	46	43	49	50	49	52	39
2000	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
2001	43	49	52	49	50	56	43
2002	56	51	50	56	45	60	41
2003	47	52	50	51	47	56	40
2004	55	56	54	53	59	58	39
2005	54	54	55	59	54	59	45
2006	56	57	55	60	54	57	43
2007	53	56	56	62	55	62	44

All lone parents
1997	42	45	48	50	45	51	36
1998	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
1999	46	45	49	51	50	54	39
2000	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
2001	43	50	52	52	51	59	45
2002	58	53	51	59	47	62	43
2003	47	54	52	53	49	57	43
2004	55	56	56	55	59	60	41
2005	54	54	56	59	56	60	46
2006	56	58	57	60	56	58	44
2007	52	55	58	62	56	63	45

*Percentage*
	South East	South West	Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland	Total
Lone fathers
1997	60	54	65	47	⁴—	58
1998	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
1999	72	42	65	60	70	57
2000	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
2001	61	75	45	63	42	64
2002	78	59	50	59	78	68
2003	78	65	59	57	59	69
2004	72	71	67	67	49	66
2005	86	75	71	68	55	69
2006	74	63	75	85	64	69
2007	81	73	49	76	45	64

Lone mothers
1997	48	48	44	38	42	43
1998	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
1999	54	57	48	46	39	47
2000	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
2001	55	63	45	53	46	50
2002	59	63	49	55	43	52
2003	58	63	59	57	40	51
2004	59	62	49	55	47	53
2005	60	66	55	55	48	55
2006	62	58	60	57	51	55
2007	67	64	53	59	53	56

All lone parents
1997	50	48	45	39	41	45
1998	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
1999	56	55	49	47	42	48
2000	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—	³—
2001	55	64	45	54	46	51
2002	60	62	49	56	44	53
2003	60	63	59	57	—	53
2004	61	64	50	56	47	54
2005	63	67	56	56	48	56
2006	63	59	61	59	52	56
2007	68	65	52	61	52	57
¹ Men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59. ² Dependent children are those aged under 16 and those aged or 16-18 who are never-married and in full-time education. ³ Comparable estimates for 1998 and 2000 are not currently available. ⁴ Sample size too small to provide an estimate Note: As with any sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey are subject to a margin of uncertainty. Source: LFS Household datasets.

Volume 470: debated on Tuesday 8 January 2008