HC Deb 05 July 1976 vol 914 cc452-4W
Mr. Knox

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number of working days lost in industrial disputes in each year since 1950 in the United Kingdom; and, from information available from international sources, if he will give comparable figures for each of the other EEC countries, Canada and the United States of America.

Mr. Harold Walker

The number of working days lost in industrial disputes in each year since 1950 in the United Kingdom is as follows:

'000s
1950 1,389
1951 1,694
1952 1,792
1953 2,184
1954 2,457
1955 3,781
1956 2,083
1957 8,412
1958 3,462
1959 5,270
1960 3,024
1961 3,046
1962 5,798
1963 1,755
1964 2,277
1965 2,925
1966 2,398
1967 2,787
1968 4,690
1969 6,849
1970 10,980
1971 13,551
1972 23,909
1973 7,197
1974 14,750
1975 6,012
1976 (Jan.—May) 1,369*
* Provisional

Source: Department of Employment Gazette.

The following table, based on information published by the International Labour Office, gives broadly comparable information in respect of other EEC countries, Canada and the United States of America. Such information is not yet available for 1975 and 1976.

Figures in '000s
Belgium Canada Denmark Eire France Italy Luxembourg Netherlands United States West Germany
1950 2,769 1,389 4 217 11,729 7,761 0.5 162 38,800 380
1951 593 902 4 545 3,495 4,515 67 22,900 1,593
1952 863 2,880 4 529 1,733 3,531 31 59,100 443
1953 412 1,325 2 82 9,722 5,828 0.1 28 28,300 1,488
1954 444 1,475 23 67 1,440 5,377 1 59 22,600 1,587
1955 1,002 1,875 10 236 3,079 5,622 12 133 28,200 847
1956 948 1,246 1,062 48 1,423 4,137 213 33,100 264
1957 3,789 1,477 7 92 1,421 4,619 7 16,500 1,072
1958 293 2,817 9 126 1,138 4,172 37 23,900 782
1959 983 2,227 18 124 1,938 9,190 2 14 79,000 62
1960 334 739 70 80 1,070 5,786 467 19,100 38
1961 92 1,335 2,308 377 2,601 9,891 25 16,300 61
1962 271 1,418 15 104 1,901 22,717 9 18,600 451
1963 247 917 24 234 5,991 11,395 38 16,100 1,846
1964 444 1,581 18 545 2,497 13,089 44 22,900 17
1965 70 2,350 242 552 980 6,993 55 23,300 49
1966 533 5,047 15 784 2,523 14,474 13 25,400 27
1967 182 3,975 10 183 4,204 8,568 6 42,100 390
1968 364 5,083 34 406 * 9,240 14 49,000 25
1969 163 7,752 56 936 2,224 37,825 22 42,869 249
1970 1,432 6,540 102 1,008 1,742 20,887 263 66,414 93
1971 1,240 2,867 21 274 4,388 14,799 97 47,589 4,484
1972 354 7,754 22 207 3,755 19,497 134 27,066 66
1973 872 5,776 3,901 207 3,915 23,419 584 27,948 563
1974 580 9,255 184 552 3,380 19,467 7 48,045 1,051
* Information not available.

Source: ILO.