The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Dennis Roberts, dated February 2010:
The Director General for the Office for National Statistics has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many economically inactive people of working age wanted employment in (a) each of the last ten years and (b) each of the last eight quarters. I am replying in his absence. (318949)
Estimates of economic inactivity are available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). In accordance with the International Labour Organization (ILO) definition, people arc classed as economically inactive if they are neither in employment nor unemployed.
The estimates provided in the attached table are for economically inactive people of working age who wanted a job. They comprise those who have not been looking for work in the last four weeks, but who say they would like a regular paid job, plus those who have been looking for work but who were unable to start within two weeks. The estimates have been seasonally adjusted.
These estimates are published in Table 13 of the monthly Labour Market Statistical Bulletin.
As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. Indications of the sampling variability of LFS aggregate estimates are provided in the Statistical Bulletin.
Total (thousand) October to December quarter: 2000 2,228 2001 2,260 2002 2,243 2003 2,123 2004 2,014 2005 2,062 2006 2,095 2007 2,096 Latest eight quarters: 2008 January to March 2,144 April to June 2,168 July to September 2,129 October to December 2,103 2009 January to March 2,082 April to June 2,144 July to September 2,251 October to December 2,326 1 Men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59. 2 Those who had not been looking for work in the four weeks prior to interview but who said they would like a regular paid job, plus those who had been looking for work but had been unable to start within two weeks. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Dennis Roberts, dated February 2010:
The Director General for the Office for National Statistics has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people in (a) Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency and (b) the UK were unemployed on the latest date for which figures are available. I am replying in his absence. (319017)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles unemployment statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey, following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions. However, due to small sample size, no reliable estimate is available for Na h-Eileanan an Iar.
As an alternative, the number of people aged 18 and over claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in January 2010 was (a) 605 people in Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency and (b) 1.65 million in the United Kingdom (source: Jobcentre Plus administrative system).
National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment and unemployment, are available from the NOMIS website at:
http://www.nomisweb.co.uk