The data requested appears in the attached table. The figures for 1948 to 1968 are based on information from British Labour Statistics Historical Abstract 1886-1968. For the years 1978 to 1998, figures are based on employment surveys in the nearest available year.

You should be aware that the figures given in the reply are based on industry classifications that have changed several times since 1948, and therefore some estimates may not be strictly comparable over time.

Employee Jobs in United Kingdom(Thousands)

	1948	1958	1968	1978	1988	1998
Coal mining	794	782	482	295	118	16
Ports and docks	156	156	136	66	36	25
Railways	572	495	293	250	155	89
Steel production	268	306	329	271	99	48
Shipbuilding	245	215	156	147	58	20
Agriculture	784	577	385	372	316	312
Motor vehicle manufacture	280	316	475	474	108	101
Textile manufacture	993	931	737	488	228	180
Column Totals	4,092	3,778	2,993	2,363	1,118	791

Index (1948 = 100)

	1948	1958	1968	1978	1988	1998
Coal Mining	100	98	61	37	15	2
Ports and docks	100	100	87	42	23	16
Railways	100	87	51	44	27	16
Steel production	100	114	123	101	37	18
Shipbuilding	100	88	64	60	24	8
Motor vehicle manufacture	100	113	169	169	39	36
Textile manufacture	100	94	74	49	23	18
Index of column totals	100	92	73	58	27	19

Notes:

(1) The figures are arranged according to the five versions of the Standard Industrial Classification in use from 1948 to date. For this reason the figures are broadly comparable but there may be some fine definitional differences in certain industries.

(2) The 1988 figures are interpolations based on the 1987 and 1989 Censuses of Employment. There was no Census of Employment in 1988.

A.80 Motorway