The supply of and the demand for labour
4.4
The growth in the supply of labour is determined by
(5) the labour force participation rate
and the growth in
population of working age. The labour force participation
rate in the third quarter of 1986, at 65.3%, was little changed from the rate of 65.4% in the preceding quarter but was higher than the
than the rate of 65.0% in the same quarter last
year. The population of working age increased by 0.4% during
the third quarter, and by 2.9% over а year ago.
consequence, the size of the labour force in quarter of 1986 increased by 0.6% over the preceding quarter,
and by 3.2% over the same quarter last year
(6).
In
the third
/4.5
(5) The labour force participation rate is defined as the proportion of
the economically active population (i.e. those working or unemployed) in the population aged 15 and over.
(6)
The total labour force and the employed population :
Quarter ending
Labour
Number of persons
force (number)
employed (number)
1985 Mar
2 594 400
2 516 800
Jun
2 632 200
2 557 800
Sep
2 637 100
2 542 000
Dec
2 644 100
2 556 700
1986 Mar
2 656 000
2 572 700
Jun
2 704 900
2 624 000
Sep
2 721 800
2 640 500
35