Written question asked by Lord Roberts of Conwy (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 23 November 2011 on behalf of the UK Statistics Authority.

Unemployment

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many young people in education but looking for part-time work are included in the latest Office for National Statistics unemployment figures; and what proportion of the unemployed they represent.

Answer: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply. Letter from Stephen Penneck, Director General for ONS, to Lord Roberts of Conwy, dated November 2011. As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many young people in education but looking for part-time work are included in the latest unemployment estimates. [HL13574] The most recent estimate for the number of unemployed people aged from 16 to 24 for the period July-September 2011 is 1.016 million. This figure includes 286,000 people in full-time education looking for part-time work. This accounts for 28.1 per cent of all unemployed people aged from 16 to 24 and 10.9 per cent of all unemployed people aged 16 and over. The number of unemployed people aged 16 and over was 2.622 million. These estimates are seasonally adjusted and sourced from the Labour Force Survey, a survey of households. As with any sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey are subject to a margin of uncertainty.

Secondary information