I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 5 March 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the rate of unemployment in each English region in each year for which figures are available. (191356)
The attached table gives estimates of those aged 16+ who are unemployed as a percentage of all economically active people in the three months ending June from 1992 to 2007, from the Labour Force Survey (LFS).
Seasonally adjusted estimates of national and regional unemployment levels and rates are published each month in the Labour Market Statistics First Release. Please visit the following link for further information:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/LMS_FR_HS7WebTablel8SA.xls
As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Percentage England North East North West Yorkshire and Humber East Midlands West Midlands East London South East South West 1992 9.8 12.3 10.2 9.6 8.4 11.0 8.2 12.4 8.1 9.0 1993 10.4 12.6 10.5 10.1 9.0 11.7 9.3 13.5 8.2 9.2 1994 9.6 12.7 10.2 10.0 8.3 10.1 8.1 13.1 7.4 7.7 1995 8.6 11.5 9.0 8.2 7.2 8.6 7.5 12.1 6.5 7.8 1996 8.1 10.3 8.4 8.4 7.3 9.4 6.4 11.6 6.1 6.2 1997 6.9 9.8 7.1 7.5 5.9 6.8 6.3 9.3 5.3 5.8 1998 6.1 8.3 6.9 7.3 4.9 5.9 4.9 8.6 4.4 4.8 1999 5.8 9.6 6.3 6.3 5.4 6.9 4.3 7.5 4.0 4.5 2000 5.3 8.9 5.3 6.1 4.8 6.1 3.7 7.4 3.3 4.3 2001 4.8 7.4 5.3 5.5 5.0 5.5 3.6 6.2 3.2 3.6 2002 5.0 6.5 5.5 5.3 4.6 5.7 3.7 6.8 3.8 3.7 2003 4.9 6.1 5.0 5.1 4.3 5.6 3.9 7.2 3.9 3.4 2004 4.7 5.5 4.4 4.6 4.2 5.5 3.8 7.0 3.7 3.7 2005 4.7 6.8 4.4 4.8 4.2 4.7 3.9 7.1 3.8 3.2 2006 5.5 6.1 5.3 5.8 5.4 5.7 5.0 7.8 4.7 3.7 2007 5.5 6.5 5.8 5.7 5.0 6.8 4.6 7.4 4.2 4.0 1 Aged 16+ unemployed persons as a percentage of all economically active persons aged 16 and over. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey