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Unemployment

Answer

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply. Letter from Karen Dunnell, National Statistician, to Lord Roberts of Llandudno, dated March 2009. As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking how many jobs were lost in (a) each English region, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in (1) each quarter of 2008, and (2) the first two months of 2009; how many job vacancies there are in (a) each English region, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland; and what percentage of those 18 and under are unemployed in (a) each English region, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland, and (d) Northern Ireland. (HL2171, HL2172 and HL2175) Data for employee jobs, total UK vacancies and unemployment estimates (tables provided overleaf) are based on surveys, as with all sample-based surveys, estimates are subject to sampling error. Table I shows the number of employee jobs in each English region, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from 2007Q4 to 2008Q4 (seasonally adjusted), and the quarterly changes. This does not measure the number of jobs lost, but the net change between jobs created and jobs lost. The employee jobs series is a quarterly measure and so does not provide estimates for the first two months of 2009. The Office for National Statistics plans to release estimates for 2009Q1 on 17 June 2009. The Office for National Statistics estimates the number of vacancies from the Vacancy Survey, however estimates below UK are not available from this source. An alternative source of information on job vacancies is administrative data from Jobcentre Plus. This data only include job vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus and consequently are inconsistent with the UK estimates from the Vacancy Survey, however geographical breakdowns of this data are available. Data for Northern Ireland are not readily available. Table 2 attached, shows the number of live unfilled job vacancies held by Jobcentre Plus for each English region, Scotland and Wales for January 2009. The latest three-month average for the UK from the Vacancy Survey is 504,000. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles employment and unemployment statistics for parts of the UK from the Annual Population Survey (APS) and its predecessor, the annual Labour Force Survey (LFS), following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions. Table 3 gives estimates of those aged 16 to 18 who are unemployed as a percentage of all economically active persons aged 16 to 18, using the July 2007 to June 2008 APS dataset, which is the most recent for which figures are available. Seasonally adjusted estimates of national and regional unemployment levels and rates are published each month in the Labour Market Statistics First Release. Please visit the following link for further information: www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/LMS_FR_HS/WebTablel8SA.xls

Table 1: Number of Seasonally Adjusted Employee Jobs (thousands) in English regions, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from 2007Q4 to 2008Q4, and the Change on Quarter
						Thousands
Level	North East	North West	Yorkshire & Humberside	East Midlands	West Midlands	East
Dec-07	1037	3020	2230	1891	2336	2365
Mar-08	1036	3008	2226	1898	2350	2376
Jun-08	1032	3007	2221	1900	2349	2382
Sep-08	1030	2995	2205	1881	2328	2388
Dec-08	1029	2969	2181	1866	2306	2365
Level	London	South East	South West	Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland
Dec-07	4080	3719	2222	1161	2391	843
Mar-08	4093	3736	2220	1160	2392	843
Jun-08	4099	3745	2223	1154	2396	851
Sep-08	4084	3734	2232	1150	2389	842
Dec-08	4040	3692	2206	1143	2375	837

Level	North East	North West	Yorkshire & Humberside	East Midlands	West Midlands	East
Change on quarter
Mar-08	-1	-11	-4	7	15	11
Jun-08	-4	-2	-5	2	-2	6
Sep-08	-2	-11	-16	-19	-20	69
Dec-08	0	-27	-24	-16	-22	-23
Level	London	South East	South West	Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland
Mar-08	13	18	-2	-1	1	0
Jun-08	7	9	3	-6	4	8
Sep-08	-16	-11	9	-4	-7	-9
Dec-08	-44	-42	-26	-7	-14	-5

"Source: Workforce Jobs, ONS""Customer Helpline: 01633-456776" "Customer Helpline: 01633-456776"

Table 2: Number of job vacancies¹ notified to Job Centre Plus in English regions, Wales, Scotland, Great Britain and UK
	January 2009
	Not seasonally adjusted
North East	6,563
North West	19,018
Yorkshire and the Humber	12,184
East Midlands	60,917
West Midlands	13,642
East	12,105
London	14,622
South East	19,305
South West	13,959
Wales	9,421
Scotland	12,056
Great Britain	193,792
United Kingdom	-

"Source: Jobcentre Plus Administrative data""- Data not available""(1) Job vacancies for English regions, Scotland, Wales and Great Britain are live unfilled vacancies from the Jobcentre Plus administrative data." "- Data not available""(1) Job vacancies for English regions, Scotland, Wales and Great Britain are live unfilled vacancies from the Jobcentre Plus administrative data." "(1) Job vacancies for English regions, Scotland, Wales and Great Britain are live unfilled vacancies from the Jobcentre Plus administrative data."

Table 3: Unemployment rate for people aged 18 and under¹ in English regions, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
	Per cent
North East	28
North West	21
Yorkshire and the Humber	26
East Midlands	22
West Midlands	26
East	18
London	34
South East	19
South West	16
Wales	24
Scotland	20
Northern Ireland	10

"Source: Annual Population Survey""¹ Aged 16-18 unemployed persons as a percentage of all economically active persons aged 16-18." "¹ Aged 16-18 unemployed persons as a percentage of all economically active persons aged 16-18."

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

2172; 709 c167-70WA

Session

2008-09

Subjects

Young people Vacancies Unemployment

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk