§ Mr. Forresterasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the number of women who have continued to work full-time or part-time after reaching the ages of 60 years and 65 years in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. GoldingIt is estimated that in Great Britain in each of the years 1976 to 1978 there were approximately 600,000 women aged 60 and over in employment of whom about two-thirds were aged between 60 and 64. Because of the small size of the surveys on which the estimates are based, the figures should be regarded as giving broad orders of magnitude, and
766Wof average net earnings, defined as the average gross weekly earnings for all full time manual men with deductions for income tax and national insurance appropriate to a married man with two children under the age of 11. However, the phased replacement of child tax allowances with child benefit, over the period 1977 to 1979, distorts comparisons on this basis.
The figures below for October 1978 are based on the net weekly earnings plus child benefit. Figures for October 1977 have been re-calculated on this basis and are also given. Strictly, the figures for October 1967 given previously should be adjusted to allow for family allowance but such adjustment would not significantly affect the comparison.
it has not been possible to identify significant differences between the estimates for individual years.