§ Mr. Meacherasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give, for each year since 1945, the growth rate of the United Kingdom economy; the level of inflation, the number of persons in employment, the rate of unemployment, the level of the public sector borrowing requirement, the percentage increase in £M3, the surplus or deficit in the balance of payments, the level of interest rates, the national average wage and the percentage increase or decrease in real personal disposable income, and the percentage change in manufacturing investment, with such evidence for 1980 as is available.
§ Mr. Brittan[pursuant to his reply, 21 January 1982, c. 173]: The available information on the items specified is mostly either already published or can be derived from published sources. However very few of the series extend back to 1945.
The growth rate of the United Kingdom economy, as measured by the average estimate of the gross domestic product at constant factor cost, is given on page 132 of the October 1981 edition of Economic Trends. The annual percentage change in real personal disposable income is given on page 134 of the same publication.
The indicators most often used to calculate the level of inflation are the implied index of total home costs and the general index of retail prices. These are given on pages 5 and 114 respectively of the 1982 edition of the Economic Trends Annual Supplement. Also given in the annual supplement are the number of persons in employment—page 99—the level of the public sector borrowing requirement—page 154—the value of £M3—pages 146–47—the surplus or deficit in the balance of payments—page 124—the levels of interest rates—pages 192–94—and manufacturing investment—page 56.
The following table contains details of the rate of United Kingdom unemployment and the national average wage, which are not readily available from published sources.
296W
*Rate of unemployment Percentage † National average wage £/p per week 1945 n/a ‡6.07 1946 n/a 6.04 1947 n/a 6.40 1948 1.6 6.90 1949 1.6 7.13 1950 1.6 7.52 1951 1.2 8.30 1952 1.7 8.93 1953 1.7 9.46 1954 1.4 10.22 1955 1.1 11.15 1956 1.2 11.90 1957 1.5 12.58 1958 2.0 12.83 1959 2.1 13.54 1960 1.7 14.53 1961 1.5 15.34 1962 2.0 15.86
*Rate of unemployment Percentage †National average wage £/p per week 1963 2.4 16.75 1964 1.7 18.11 1965 1.5 19.59 1966 1.5 20.30 1967 2.3 21.38 1968 2.5 23.00 1969 2.4 24.82 1970 2.6 28.05 1971 3.5 30.93 1972 3.8 35.82 1973 2.7 40.92 1974 2.7 48.63 1975 4.1 59.58 1976 5.7 66.97 1977 6.2 72.89 1978 6.1 83.50 1979 5.7 96.94 1980 7.4 **113.06 1981 11.3 n/a Not available. *Annual average; excludes temporarily stopped and adult students. † Average weekly earnings for manual men in all industries covered by the Department of Employment October Surveys. ‡ July not October. **Relates to "males on adult rates".