HC Deb 13 February 1981 vol 998 cc443-4W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will circulate in the Official Report a table comparing the decline in output per head and output per person-hour in manufacturing in the current recession with the decline in previous recessions since the end of the Second World War, together with the relevant dates.

Mr. Brittan

Estimates of output per head in manufacturing are available only from mid-1962 onwards. There are no corresponding official figures of output per person-hour. Data from which quarterly changes in output per head for recent periods can be derived are published regularly in the Department of Employment Gazette and in Economic Trends; the data for earlier years are given on pages 97 and 98 of Economic Trends annual supplement, 1981 edition. The dates of peaks and troughs in the growth cycles of United Kingdom economic activity from 1962 to date are shown on the chart of "Cyclical indicators for the UK economy" which is published each month in Economic Trends.