§ Mr. AlexanderTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate how many(a) men and (b) women working (i) part-time and (ii) full-time in Paisley, South earn less than (1) £3 per hour, (2) £3.60 per hour and (3) £2.50 per hour; and in each case what is the percentage of the total number involved. [71431]
§ Ms HewittThe 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. Douglas Alexander, dated 15 February 1999:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on earnings in Paisley South.
The New Earnings Survey (NES) can provide earnings data for small geographical areas. However, the release of NES data is restricted to figures which are derived from a sufficiently large sample of employees, and which have an acceptable level of accuracy. Estimates of the number of men and women in Paisley South who earn less than the levels quoted cannot be provided, because the small sample size produces unreliable statistics. I have therefore provided data for Renfrewshire in the attached table. These are based on the 1998 NES, the latest for which data are available.
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 and in particular those who work part-time.
595W
New Earnings Survey, April 1998 Employees on adult rates, whose pay for the survey pay-period was unaffected by absence. Hourly earnings excluding overtime payments Percentage earning Less than £2.50 Less than £3.00 Less than £3.60 Renfrewshire Full-time males 0.0 0.5 3.5 Part-time males 1— 1— 1— All males 0.0 0.5 3.8 Full-time females 1.7 1.7 4.3 Part-time females 1— 1— 1— All females 1.9 1.9 9.2 All full-time employees 0.6 1.0 3.8 All part-time employees 1— 1— 1— All employees 1.0 1.2 6.5 1 Denotes that a reliable estimate is not available