§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether he will publish figures showing the rise in unit labour costs, adjusted for inflation, in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) Germany, (c) France, (d) the United States of America and (e) Japan for each year from 1974.
§ Mr. MacGregor[pursuant to his reply, 20 January 1981, c. 134.]: The table below shows for each country changes on a year earlier in unit labour costs in manufacturing industry and, alongside these, changes in the level of prices. The appropriate measure of prices depends on the particular purpose for which the figures are required. The index of wholesale prices of output of manufactured goods has been used.
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Change in Unit Labour Costs and Output Prices in Maunfacturing Percentage increase on a year earlier United Kingdom United States Japan France Federal Republic of Germany A * B § A * B § A * B § A† B § A *‡ B § 1974 23 23 8½ 19 30 28 17 16 13 13 1975 32 22 12 11 22 1½ 21 12 6½ 4½ 1976 12 17 1 4½ — 5 5 7½ -1 4 1977 9½ 20 7 6 4 1½ 9½ 7½ 3 2½ 1978 13 9 6½ 7½ -2 -1½ 7 9 3 1 1979 14 12 6 12 -3 6 6½ 11 2 5 1980Q1 18 18 7½ 16 -4 17 7½ 15 — 8 A—Change in unit labour costs. B—Change in wholesale price of output of manufacturing industry. * Source: OECD main economic indicators. † Source: CSO estimate. ‡ Mining and manufacturing. § IMF estimates.