§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will give a detailed explanation of the basis upon which he formulates the national
930Wvacancies unfilled in the areas specified. Because of possible duplication the vacancy figures for employment offices and careers offices cannot be added together to provide the ratios requested.
average wage; and how frequently, and in what ways, such methods of estimation are reviewed and revised.
§ Mr. GoldingSeveral forms of average earnings are published regularly by my Department but each has its own precise description and the term "national average wage" is not used. Full details of the measures derived from the New Earnings Survey are given on page A, 42, 59 and 60 of the publication "New Earnings Survey, Part A", which is available in the Library. The methods of estimation are kept under regular review, taking into account the views of major users, but no significant change in the methods has been found necessary in recent years.
§ Mr. Mike Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many minutes of work are required in each of the EEC member States for a man earning the average male manual wage to be able to purchase each of the following items of goods: one kilo of rump steak, one kilo of fresh cod, one kilo of bread, one kilo of apples, one kilo of oranges, one kilo of butter, one litre of fresh milk, one kilo of potatoes and one dozen eggs.
§ Mr. GoldingThe information required to answer this Question is collected annually, for October, by the Statistical Office of the European Communities and the International Labour Office. Comprehensive data for 1976 are not yet available. The information for October 931W 1975 is given in the following table. No figures are given for Luxembourg because information on earnings of male manual workers in that country is not available from international sources. Comparisons of this type involve considerable difficulties of interpretation. In particular these arise from the variation in the systems of remuneration and taxation in the different countries, from the
MINUTES OF WORK REQUIRED TO EARN (BEFORE TAX) THE PRICES OF VARIOUS ITEMS OF FOOD AT OCTOBER 1975 United Kingdom* France† Federal Republic of Germany Belgium† Sirloin steak—1 kilo … … … 95 146 160 133 Cod—1 kilo … … … … 56 83 46 62 Bread—1 kilo … … … … 9 18 15 8 Apples—1 kilo … … … … 13 11 10 8 Oranges—1 kilo … … … 13 17 12 12 Butter—1 kilo … … … … 33 81 49 53 Milk—1 litre … … … … 6 8 6 5 Potatoes—1 kilo … … … … 7 4 4 3 Eggs—1 dozen … … … … 17 24 15 19 Italy†‡ Denmark† Netherlands Ireland§ Sirloin steak—1 kilo … … … 173 81 125 79 Cod—1 kilo … … … … n/a 18 50 47 Bread—1 kilo … … … … 18 13 9 9 Apples—1 kilo … … … … 15 8 8 14 Oranges—1 kilo … … … 14 9 11 15 Butter—1 kilo … … … … 106 39 49 40 Milk—1 litre … … … … 10 4 6 5 Potatoes—1 kilo … … … … 7 5 4 5 Eggs—1 dozen … … … … 31 13 12 19 *The average prices are derived from prices in 200 towns. † Capital city prices. ‡ April 1975 earnings. § November 1975 prices and December 1975 earnings Sources:
(a) Prices: ILO Bulletin of Labour Statistics 2nd Quarter 1976.
(b) Earnings: Ireland—Irish Statistical Bulletin, June 1976. Other countries—Hourly Earnings and Hours of Work, Eurostat 2/1976.
§ Mr. Walter Johnsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will institute a publicity campaign on the question of average earnings and on how they are made up, in order to help clear up misunderstandings among many workers;
(2) how average earnings are arrived at; and which industries and firms are used in the sample.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerI will reply to my hon. Friend's Question as soon as possible.