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21 Mar 2007 : Column 916W—continued

Table 2: Employment rates and the percentages of people working by gender United Kingdom, seasonally adjusted
Percentage
	All persons			Men			Women
Three months ending December each year	All( 1,2)	Full-time( 3,4)	Part-time( 3,4)	All( 1,2)	Full-time( 3,4)	Part-time( 3,4)	All( 1,2)	Full-time( 3,4)	Part-time( 3,4)
1992	70.4	76	24	75.3	93	7	65.2	56	44
1993	70.3	76	24	75.2	92	8	65.2	56	44
1994	70.9	76	24	76.0	92	8	65.4	56	44
1995	71.8	75	25	76.7	92	8	66.5	55	45
1996	72.2	75	25	77.0	91	9	67.1	55	45
1997	73.1	75	25	78.2	91	9	67.7	56	45
1998	73.7	75	25	78.6	91	9	68.4	56	45
1999	74.2	75	25	79.1	91	9	69.0	56	44
2000	74.4	75	25	79.2	91	9	69.2	55	45
2001	74.4	75	25	79.1	91	10	69.3	56	44
2002	74.7	75	26	79.5	90	10	69.6	56	44
2003	74.6	74	26	79.1	90	10	69.9	56	44
2004	74.9	74	26	79.3	89	11	70.2	57	43
2005	74.5	75	25	78.8	89	11	69.8	58	43
2006	74.5	74	26	78.8	89	11	69.9	57	43
(1) In employment as a percentage of all persons of working age which includes men aged 16-64 and women 16-59. (2) Includes those who did not state whether they worked full or part-time. (3) Full and part-time as a percentage of all in employment. (4) Full and part-time includes people aged 16 and over and is based on respondents' self assessment, not on hours worked. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the (a) total employment rate and (b) total full-time employment rate in the (i) 10 local authority areas and (ii) 10 local authority wards in the UK with the (A) highest and (B) lowest employment rates for the latest year for which information is available. [124620]

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 21 March 2007:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what estimate has been made of the (a) total employment rate and (b) total full-time employment rate in the (i) 10 local authority areas and (ii) 10 local authority wards in the UK with the (A) highest and (B) lowest employment rates for the latest year for which information is available. (124620)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of employment for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation definitions.

Table 1, attached, shows employment rates, for persons of working age, for the 10 local authorities, in Great Britain, with the highest employment rates and the ten authorities with the lowest rates for the 12 months ending in June 2006 from the APS. Table 1 also shows the number of persons, aged 16 and over, in full-time and part-time employment expressed as a proportion of the total number of employed persons aged 16 and over.

As these estimates are for a subset of the population in a small geographical area, they are based on small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty.

Table 2, attached, shows employment rates for persons of working age for persons of working age for the ten wards, in Great Britain, with the highest employment rates and the ten wards with the lowest rates from the 2001 Census as reliable ward data is not available from the APS. For clarity, the local authority of the ward is shown. Table 2 also shows the number of persons, aged 16 to 74, in full-time and part-time employment expressed as a proportion of the total number of employed persons aged 16 to 74.

21 Mar 2007 : Column 917W

21 Mar 2007 : Column 918W

Table 1: Employment rates and the percentages of people working full-time and part-time in the ten highest and ten lowest local authorities; Great Britain; July 2005 to June 2006
Percentage
	Proportion of all In employment( 1) aged 16 and over who are
Local authority	Working age( 2) employment rate	Full-time( 3)	Part-time( 3)
Ten highest
South Northamptonshire	91.8	71	29
Blaby	89.0	73	27
Cotswold	88.5	66	34
West Oxfordshire	87.1	71	29
Orkney Islands	86.2	65	35
Surrey Heath	86.1	69	31
Bromsgrove	86.1	72	28
Eden	86.0	72	28
Shetland Islands	86.0	72	28
South Bucks	85.5	71	30
Ten lowest
Barking and Dagenham	62.8	79	20
Birmingham	62.8	74	26
Islington	62.5	86	15
Liverpool	61.1	80	20
Merthyr Tydfil	60.9	74	26
Lambeth	60.2	82	18
Newham	58.6	78	22
West Somerset	58.3	53	47
Hackney	55.7	82	18
Tower Hamlets	54.4	77	23
(1) Includes those who did not state whether they worked full-time or part-time. (2) Men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59. (3) Based on respondents’ self assessment not on hours worked. Estimates are subject to sampling variability. Excludes Isles of Scilly. Source: Annual Population Survey.

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