§ 14. Mr. Biffenasked the Minister of Labour what is the total number of workers covered by salary and wage claims, respectively, notified to his Department during the last 12 months; and what percentages they are of the total numbers of salary and wage earners, respectively.
§ Mr. HattersleyMajor claims notified cover 9.1 million wage earners and 1.4 million salary earners. These represent respectively, about 57 per cent. and 20 per cent. of the estimated totals.
§ Mr. BiffenDoes not that Answer illustrate the extremely partial knowledge available to the Ministry of Labour, which knows nearly three times as much about wage increases as about salary increases? As the statutory policy can proceed only on the knowledge available to the Ministry, does not this clearly indicate that wage earners are more likely to be discriminated against than are salary earners?
§ Mr. HattersleyI have given the hon. Gentleman those figures because those are the figures of major claims notified. They are the figures for which we have definite totals, but in addition many others are informally notified to the headquarters of the Ministry and to regional offices. The majority of companies are applying a great deal of the incomes policy not because they have to notify figures to the Ministry of Labour, but because they know it to be in the national interest.
§ Mr. HefferIs is not clear that during the period of wage freeze executives' salaries went up—this was indicated in Business Week—and that there is discrimination against the worker at the shop bench as against the salary earner, particularly in the higher levels of income?
§ Mr. HattersleyNo, I do not think that that is a reasonable conclusion. Very often the suspicion that this discrimination exists arises from the knowledge that many administrative and clerical staff have annual increments, but annual increments are totally acceptable within the terms of the policy, given one or two qualifications.