Unemployment Mr. Meacher To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the UK’s adult population were deemed to be economically inactive in each year since 1997; and what percentage this was in each case of the UK’s adult working population. John Healey The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply. Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 15 January 2007 The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about economic inactivity. I am replying in her absence. (114900) The table overleaf gives estimates of economically inactive levels and rates, for the twelve-month periods ending December for each year from 1997. The table is based on annual averages ending in December each year. Economic inactivity levels and rates are published by the Office for National Statistics each month in the Labour Market Statistics First Release. Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Twelve months ending December each year |Levels (000)|Rates2 (percentage)| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1997 |7,608 |21.6 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1998 |7,649 |21.6 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1999 |7,559 |21.2 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2000 |7,591 |21.2 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2001 |7,727 |21.4 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002 |7,752 |21.4 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003 |7,786 |21.4 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004 |7,864 |21.4 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005 |7,910 |21.4 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |20063 |7,847 |21.1 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1 Men aged 16 to 64 and women age 16 to 59.2 Economically inactive people of working age as a percentage of all persons of working age.3 Ten months ending October 2006.Source:ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS)| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Meacher To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what percentage of the population from each of the EU15 member states were deemed to be economically inactive in each year since 1997. John Healey The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply. Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 15 January 2007: The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the numbers and percentages of economically inactive people from each of the EU15 member countries in each year since 1997. I am replying in her absence. (115944) The estimates are available from the Eurostat website which is accessible via the House of Commons library.