§ 116. Mr. Hayhoeasked the Secretary of State for Employment how the growth of real wages in the United Kingdom over the last 10 years compares with growth figures in the countries of the European Communities, from information available to him from international sources.
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Wages (a) Non-agricultural sectors (b) Manufacturing Variations in industrial coverage from those given in column headings (a) or (b) Consumer Prices Belgium … … Earnings per day: Males … … 6.6* 6.8* (a) excluding commerce 2.7 Females … … 8.3* 8.3* Earnings per hour: All workers … 7.4* — France … … Rates of pay per hour: Males† … … 7.7 — (a) excluding mining and quarrying. 3.9 Females† … … 8.0 — All workers† … 7.8 8.0 Federal Republic of Germany. Earnings per hour‡: Males … … 8.0 7.9 (a) excluding commerce and transport. 2.5 Females … … 8.9 8.8 All workers … 8.0 8.2 Italy … … Rates of pay per hour: All workers … 8.0* — (a) excluding commerce and transport. 3.7 Earnings per hour§ All workers … — 8.3 Luxembourg … Earnings per hour: All workers … 5.9║ 5.7║ (a) excluding commerce and transport. 2.1 Netherlands … Earnings per day: All workers … 8.2¶ — 4.1 Earnings per hour: Males† … … — 9.9* Females‡ … … — 11.8* All workers … — 10.6* Earnings per week: All workers … — 9.8* Rates of pay per hour: All workers† … — 9.7 United Kingdom Earnings per hour: Males† … … 6.7 6.6 (a) excluding coalmining, commerce and railways. 3.5 Females† … … 6.5 6.5 Earnings per week: Males† … … 6.2 6.0 Females† … … 5.6 5.5 * Period 1959–68. † Adults only. ‡ Including family allowances paid directly by employers. § Including the value of payments in kind. ║ Period 1959–67. ¶ Period 1959–65: includes salaried employees. Sources: EEC Countries: ILO Year Books and Bulletins of Labour Statistics. UK: Department of Employment.
§ Mr. BryanAs the answer consists of a table of figures I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT. I must emphasise that owing to differences in concept, scope, methodology and presentation it cannot be assumed that the figures for different countries are comparable. Because of these differences and also because social security systems vary so much from country to country it is not possible to produce a reliable measure of changes in the "real" value of earnings.
The following are the average annual percentage (compound) increases in wages and consumer prices for the period 1959–69 (except where otherwise stated):