§ Mr. Wyn Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Employment if, pursuant to the Prime Minister's statement, Official Report, 11th July, columns 1247–8, that there are more people in employment today than there were in 1973, he will give the statistics on which the answer was based.
§ Mr. GoldingIn March 1978, the number of employees in employment in the United Kingdom, seasonally adjusted, was 22,672,000, compared with 22,656,000 and 22,661,000 in March and June 1973 respectively.
PERCENTAGE INCREASE IN ANNUAL EARNINGS OF AVERAGE PRODUCTION WORKER IN INDUSTRY (a) Before tax and national insurance contributions. (b) After tax, national insurance contributions and including child benefits. 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) Belgium … 14.6 13.5 21.0 20.2 19.0 18.2 12.4 11.3 Denmark … 13.9 12.9 24.7 17.7 13.7 21.8 13.5 12.1 France … 13.0 12.1 17.0 15.8 13.6 15.7 15.1 10.9 Germany … 10.7 8.4 7.9 6.9 4.4 10.2 9.1 6.4 Ireland … 15.8 13.5 17.9 18.0 27.2 22.8 19.8 17.1 Italy … 19.2 16.1 14.9 24.3 51.2 42.5 11.1 12.0 Luxembourg … 11.2 10.2 21.3 19.4 12.6 14.8 10.3 9.9 Netherlands … 7.6 6.0 14.0 11.9 10.9 11.3 10.5 9.1 United Kingdom … 14.2 11.0 19.7 16.3 21.2 17.8 14.5 14.5 United States of America … 7.0 5.1 6.3 6.1 7.8 9.2 9.5 8.3 Japan … 24.5 24.3 19.0 19.2 11.2 12.1 9.0 8.9 Notes:
1. The percentage increases are calculated from the figures for gross and net annual earnings of the average production worker in industry published by OECD (The Tax/Benefit Position of Selected Income Groups, 1978). Details are not available from this source for years before 1972, nor after 1976. No figures are available on this basis for the EEC as a whole.
2. Net earnings are calculated, in accordance with the normal convention of OECD, by deducting from gross pay income tax (both national and local) and employees' social security contributions, and then adding to this net amount any child benefits or cash transfers payable. It is assumed throughout that the taxpayer is a married man with two children aged under 11, and that the income is all that of the husband from employment.
3. Figures for different years may not be directly comparable because of changes in the tax systems of the various countries. For example, in 1975 Germany changed from child tax allowances to cash transfers for dependent children.