HC Deb 06 July 1971 vol 820 cc341-2W
50. Mr. David James

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether in official publications he will ensure that all wages and salaries are referred to on a uniform scale of £'s per month, rather than on the dual scale of £'s per week and of £100's per year.

Mr. Bryan

It is not practicable to express all wages in terms of £'s per month. The earnings of weekly-paid workers often fluctuate from week to week and valid estimates of their monthly

Earnings
The latest date for which information is available is October, 1970.
All Industries and Services covered
Average weekly earnings: manual workersfull time Percentage rise over October, 1964 Average weekly earnings: administrative, technical, and clerical workers Percentage rise
Date Men (aged 21 years and over) £ Women (aged 18 years and over) £ Men Women Males £ Females £ Males Females
October, 1964 18.11 8.95 23.53 12.60
October, 1965 19.59 9.60 8.2 7.3 25.53 13.71 8.5 8.8
October, 1966 20.30 10.07 12.1 12.5 26.69 14.25 13.4 13.1
October, 1967 21.38 10.56 18.1 18.0 27.90 14.90 18.6 18.3
October, 1968 23.00 11.30 27.0 26.3 29.77 15.76 26.5 25.1
October, 1969 24.82 12.11 37.1 35.3 32.07 17.05 36.3 35.3
October, 1970 28.05 13.99 54.9 56.3 36.12 19.59 53.5 55.5
October, 1971 Not Available Not Available
Information about the average salary scales of secretaries and personal secretaries is not available
General Index of Retail Prices
The following table gives the percentage increases between mid-October, 1964 and (a) mid-October in each of the years 1965 to 1970 and (b) mid-May, 1971.
October, 1965 October, 1966 October 1967 October, 1968 October. 1969 October 1970 May, 1971
All items 4.8 8.8 10.9 17.1 23.4 32.5 42.0
Food 3.1 6.9 8.3 14.3 22.0 30.9 44.7
Fares 6.0 11.4 14.4 20.8 25.4 42.0 68.8
Postage 22.4 35.1 35.1 52.7 52.7 52.7 118.1
Purchasing value of the £ sterling
The fall in the purchasing value of the £ sterling (taken as l00p in mid-October, 1964) is as follows:
Mid-October, 1965 4½p
Mid-October, 1966 8p
Mid-October, 1967 9½p
Mid-October, 1968 14p
Mid-October, 1969 18½p
Mid-October, 1970 23½p
Mid-May 1971 28½p

These estimates are based on the movement of the Consumer Price Index for calendar years, adjusted by the movements of the General Index of Retail Prices for the months at the beginning and end of each period.

earnings cannot be derived from the information which is collected.