§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the minutes of work required in Great Britain, France, Germany and the United States of America to buy the following items, namely, 1 kg rump steak, 10 eggs, 1 litre pasteurised milk, 1 kg local bread, 1 kg butter, 1 kg white sugar, 1 kg potatoes, 1 kg apples and 10 oranges, expressed
NUMBER OF MINUTES WORK REQUIRED TO PURCHASE CERTAIN FOOD ITEMS BY MALE MANUAL WORKERS IN MANUFACTURING IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES October 1972 except where stated Item Number or weight United States of America(1)(2) Minutes France(3)(4) Minutes Germany (Federal Republic) Minutes United Kingdom(5)(6) Minutes White Wheat Bread 1 Kg. 8 22 15 9 Milk, Pasteurised (bottled) 1 Lt. 5 9 7(7) 7 Butter (table) 1 Kg. 30 114 61 40 Eggs 10 8 26 16 12 Sugar (white granulated) 1 Kg. 5 13 10 7 Potatoes 1 Kg. 3 5 4 4 Apples (eating) 1 Kg. 8 20 11 21 Oranges 1 Kg. 9 24 14 15 Source:
Earnings:
United Kingdom—Department of Employment.
France and Germany—Social Statistics 1/1973, EEC.
United States of America—ILO Bulletin of Statistics.
Minutes of work derived from the above and the ILO retail prices survey, October 1972 published in ILO Bulletin 2nd Quarter 1973.
Notes:
(1) Earnings are for males and females.
(2) The prices used in these calculations cover 50 towns only.
(3) The prices used in these calculations are Paris only.
(4) Earnings relate to April 1972, not October.
(5) The prices used in these calculations are the means of London prices and unweighted average prices of Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
(6) Earnings are for adult males only.
(7) Not pasteurised (not bottled).