§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish an estimate of the current figure for half adult median earnings on a like-for-like basis with the hourly adult rate for the national minimum wage. [82045]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 26 April 1999]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Tim Boswell, dated 30 April 1997
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on adult median earnings.The information requested is not available for 1999, nor on a like-for-like basis with the National Minimum Wage (NMW).The preferred method for assessing the coverage of the NMW is to present adjusted New Earnings Survey (NES) and Labour Force Survey (LFS) data, in line with an article by David Wilkinson in the May 1998 issue of Labour Market Trends entitled Towards reconciliation of NES and LFS Earnings Data, which is available in the House of Commons Library. This method adjusts for the fact that the NES is based on a one per cent. sample of employees in the PAYE system and is therefore likely to under-represent relatively low paid staff earning below the tax threshold, in particular those who work part-time.Using this methodology, which is not on a like-for-like basis when compared with the NMW, the estimate of half median earnings of full-time employees aged 22 and over was £3.83 in 296W Spring 1998. The NMW for those aged over 21 has been set at £3.60 per hour. An estimate for all employees is not available, but were one to be calculated it would give a lower value because of inclusion of part-time employees.