Orders of the Day — Unemployment

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 24 July 1978.

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Photo of Mr Barney Hayhoe Mr Barney Hayhoe , Hounslow Brentford and Isleworth 12:00, 24 July 1978

That is an absurd question. If the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Mr. Litterick) had listened to any of our debates on these matters over the years, he would have known that the question had been put before and had been answered before. The answer is that, depending on the definitions given, it is possible to produce a number of different global figures for the number of unemployed and for the percentage rates. For example, the national percentage rate which we publicise in this country is not the same percentage rate as that which appears in the OECD statistics, which are adjusted to make international comparisons. It may be that the hon. Member for Selly Oak had some obscure political point that he was trying to make with that absurd intervention. But certainly, on their merits, I am happy to work on the figures produced by the Department of Employment, recognising its assumptions and recognising both what it says and what it does not say about the unemployment figures.

Let me make my position quite clear. I said that the figure at the moment was 1,585,000 under present definitions. If we were using the same definitions which applied when the last Conservative Government were in power, the figure would be about 1¾ million. This Government have changed the basis of calculation. I have no objection to that. Students have been removed from inclusion in the figures. It was a sensible change to make. But in terms of the raw unemployment statistics, a number of changes have been made during the course of this Government's period in office which have resulted in bringing down the numbers.

The 1 million figure which appeared in January 1972, when Labour Members were parading in the centre of the Chamber and bringing the proceedings of the House to a stop, would, under the present definition, be only about 950,000. That figure is some 600,000 fewer than the figure which has been arrived at under this Government. So, whichever figure the hon. Member for Selly Oak takes, the record of this Government is abysmally bad. What is more, if we look into the future we see that there have been forecasts going ahead—