Migrant Workers: Peterborough Mr. Stewart Jackson To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of inward migration on (a) economic activity and (b) the labour market in Peterborough constituency over the last 10 years. Angela Eagle The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply. Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 28 November 2007: As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on economic activity and the labour market in the Peterborough parliamentary constituency. (168765) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the main summary indicator of economic activity in the UK. Because data collection, estimation and reporting are not structured according to demographic groups, the national accounts framework does not however make it possible to identify the direct contribution of immigrants to the measured levels of economic activity. The Office for National Statistics compiles statistics for labour supply indicators for local areas from the annual Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation definitions. The data for analysing migrant workers comes from the above surveys. The National Statistics method for estimating the number of migrant workers employed in the UK is routinely based on the number of people at a given time who were born abroad, are of working age (16-64 for men, 16-59 for women), and in employment. This question has been answered on this basis. It means, for example, that some people who are UK nationals will be included in the total of “foreign born” and that people who are working but are above state pension age are not included. When interpreting these figures, it is important also to bear in mind that the LFS and APS are not designed to cover everyone who is present in the UK. The survey may undercount the numbers of people who were born overseas. The reasons are set out in the table footnote. The annual LFS and APS estimates at this detailed level are only available consistent with the UK population estimates published in February and March 2003 and are not comparable with the estimates published in the Labour Market Statistics First Release on 14 November 2007, which are based on latest population estimates. The table attached, shows the numbers of employed, unemployed and economically active persons of working age who were not born in the UK and were resident in Peterborough constituency, for the twelve month periods ending in February for 2001 to 2004 from the annual LFS, and for the twelve month periods ending in March 2005, March 2006 and December 2006 from the APS (the January to December 2006 APS dataset is the most recent for which information on country of birth is currently available). The table also shows the numbers of non-UK born economically active persons as percentages of all economically active persons of working age, in the area. Data on country of birth are not available on annual LFS datasets before 2000. As these estimates are for a subset of the population in small geographical areas, they are based on small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty. Estimates of change over time should be treated with particular caution. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | |Thousands | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |12 months ending |Employment level|Unemployment level|Economically active|Non-UK born economically actives as percentage of all economically actives (Percentage)| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |February 2001 |4 |* |4|10| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |February 2002 |5 |— |5|11| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |February 2003 |5 |* |5|11| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |February 2004 |6 |— |6|13| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |March 2005 |7 |* |7|16| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |March 2006 |6 |1 |7|17| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |December 2006 |10 |1 |11|25| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |1 Includes males aged 16-64 and females aged 16-59* Sample size too small to provide estimate.— Estimate less than 500Notes:Estimates are subject to sampling variability.It should also be noted that the country of birth question in the LFS gives an undercount because:it excludes certain people who have not been resident in the UK for six months.it excludes students in halls who do not have a UK resident parent.it excludes people in most other types of communal establishments (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites, etc).it is grossed to population estimates which exclude migrants staying for less than 12 months.microdata are grossed to population estimates consistent with those published in spring 2003 which are significantly lower than the latest population estimates.Source:Annual local area Labour Force Survey; Annual Population survey.| | | 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