To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many people were in employment in the North East in each quarter since January 2003, calculated with reference to the December 2007 changes in methodology, broken down by (a) employees, (b) self-employed, (c) the armed forces and (d) trainees. (216745)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 8 July 2008:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many people were in employment in the North East in each quarter since January 2003, calculated with reference to the December 2007 changes in methodology, broken down by (a) employees, (b) self-employed, (c) the armed forces and (d) trainees. [216745].

The Workforce Jobs estimates combine Employee Jobs figures with self employment jobs from the Labour Force Survey, as well as HM Forces jobs figures and the number of government-supported trainees. However, HM Forces job estimates are only available at a national level.

The attached table provides estimates of employee jobs, self-employment jobs and government-supported trainees, for the North East for each quarter from December 2002 to March 2008, the latest available.

However, there is a discontinuity in the employee jobs series between December 2005 and September 2006, which means we are unable to calculate the time series on a consistent basis across its full length. The change in December 2007 made improvements to the annual benchmark and the quality of estimates of employment. More information about revisions to the Workforce Jobs series can be found at:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=9765

Civilian regional Workforce Job estimates are published as part of the quarterly regional labour market statistics first release and can be obtained on the National Statistics website at:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=15084