§ Mr. Meacherasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the annual compound increase in, respectively, earnings and unit labour costs in manufacturing over the period 1970 to 1979 in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the United States of America, Japan and Sweden.
§ Mr. Lawson[pursuant to his reply, 6 November 1980]: The figures requested are shown below:
Annual compound percentage increase over the period 1970 to 1979:
Manufacturing earnings Unit labour costs in manufacturing United Kingdom +15* +13║ Federal Republic of Germany +8† +5║ France +‡ n.a. Italy +20‡ n.a. USA + +14§ +5 Japan +14§ +7║ Sweden +11† +14¶ SOURCE: OECD Main Economic Indicators (i) Historical Statistics 1960–1975 (ii) September 1980 n.a.=not available *weekly earnings; † hourly earnings; ‡ hourly rates; § monthly earnings; ║ wages and salaries; per unit of output; ¶ hourly labour costs.