[holding answer 20 October 2008]: The .information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated October 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what change there was in the number of people of working age in employment who were (a) UK citizens, (b) non-UK citizens, (c) UK born and (d) non-UK born in the period (i) 1987 to 1997 and (ii) since 1997, expressed (A) as a proportion of those of working age in employment and (B) as a proportion of the total change in employment level in the same periods. (228444)
The requested information for the period April-June 1997 to April-June 2008 is shown in the attached table. Comparable data for the period 1987 to 1997 are not available.
Citizenship is defined as the nationality reported by respondents at the time of the survey.
The estimates are derived from the Labour Force Survey. As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
The figures in the table are derived from the LFS microdata which are weighted using the official population estimates published in autumn 2007. They are not entirely consistent with the figures published in the monthly Labour Market Statistics First Release which are weighted using more up-to-date population estimates.
UK Nationals Non UK Nationals UK born Non UK born Total2 April to June 1997 (thousand) 24,686 943 23,710 1,919 25,631 April to June 20083 (thousand) *25,882 *2,266 *24,532 *3,617 *28,152 Change (thousand) 1,196 1,322 822 1,698 2,521 (A): Change as percentage of 2007 level 5 140 3 88 10 (B): Change as percentage of total change 47 52 33 67 100 1 Men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59. 2 Total includes those whose nationality and country of birth is not known. 3 Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates, described as follows: Guide to quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent. we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key: Coefficient of Statistical Robustness Variation (CV) (percentage) * 0 < CV < 5 Estimates are considered precise. ** 5 < CV < 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise. *** 10 < CV < 20 Estimates are considered acceptable. **** CV ≥ 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes. Note: It should be noted that the above estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc).