Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Tim Loughton (Conservative). It was answered on Monday, 14 September 2009 on behalf of the South East Regional Grand Committee.

Unemployment

Question: My hon. Friend the Member for Reading, East (Mr. Wilson) has got off relatively lightly—in East Worthing and Shoreham from July 2008 to July 2009 unemployment has increased by no less than 128 per cent. Does the Minister agree that those raw figures disguise the underlying problem that the number of firms and workers now on short-term working—four days a week or fewer—is much greater, with serious consequences such as the impact on transport?

Answer: The hon. Gentleman mentions a percentage—123 per cent, I think. In Worthing, that is 2,260 people. Of course that is 2,260 too many, but as I said, we are not seeing the figures pile up, we are seeing people flowing off jobseeker’s allowance as well. We saw the highest peak in unemployment a couple of months ago, and the indications are that the number is coming down, although it is too early to be confident about that. The hon. Gentleman chose to use a percentage as that is the most graphic way to illustrate his point. He did not choose to cite the actual numbers, which is about 3.9 per cent. of the population, and which puts things into a little more perspective.

Secondary information