Agriculture: Employment Figures

Lord Inglewood

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish in the

Official Report a table showing the number of persons employed in agriculture in the United Kingdom in each of the last 12 years, showing separately the numbers for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. [HL978]

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from the Director of Social Statistics, Mr John Pallinger, dated 16 February 2000.

The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on the number of people employed in agriculture. I am replying in Dr Holt's absence.

The attached table gives estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the main source of labour market data on individuals. It gives the number of people in employment in the agriculture, hunting and forestry industries in the UK and England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The data are for spring (March to May) quarters from 1988 to 1999 and are not seasonally adjusted.

People aged 16 or over are classed as in employment by the LFS if they have done at least one hour of paid work (as an employee or self-employed) in the week prior to their LFS interview or if they have a job that they are temporarily away from. People who do unpaid work in a family business and people on government-supported training and employment programmes are also included according to the International Labour Organisation convention.

People in employment in agriculture, hunting and forestry industries¹ 1988 to 1999 (not seasonally adjusted)
Thousands
	United Kingdom	England	Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland
Spring 1988	581	446	39	69	28
Spring 1989	570	413	54	72	32
Spring 1990	554	426	34	62	32
Spring 1991	574	454	37	57	26
Spring 1992	544	399	46	67	31
Spring 1993²	501	369	42	63	27
Spring 1994²	515	370	49	66	31
Spring 1995	520	389	43	53	35
Spring 1996	498	376	37	54	31
Spring 1997	478	352	40	53	33
Spring 1998	445	321	46	44	33
Spring 1999	407	303	32	39	33
¹ Based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC).
²SIC 92 replaced SIC 80 in winter 1993–94. For dates prior to winter 1993–94 the SIC 80 codes have been converted to SIC 92 codes to give reasonable comparisons not exact conversions. Because the conversions are not exact, there is a discontinuity in the table between spring 1993 and spring 1994.

Source:

Labour Force Survey.

Volume 609: debated on Wednesday 16 February 2000