§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the increase in United Kingdom unit labour costs relative to the world generally and the EEC in particular; and to what extent this is used by Her Majesty's Government as an indicator of changes in competitiveness.
§ Mr. Peter ReesEstimates of United Kingdom relative unit labour costs are available in the International Monetary Fund's publication "International Financial Statistics" (p64 in the July 1985 issue). The equivalent figures for relative unit labour costs vis-a-vis our EC partners on the same basis are given in the following table. Figures for the first half of 1985 are not yet available.
United Kingdom Unit Labour Costs Compared to the EC Per cent 1975 86.1 1976 71.2 1977 66.25 1978 71.0 1979 81.8 1980 100.0 1981 109.2 1982 104.6 1983 96.5 1984 99.8 Notes:
1. Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands.
2. Competitors costs are trade weighted expressed and in a common currency.
3. Some data is taken from OECD. Economic Outlook June 1985.
83WA variety of price and cost-based measures of competitiveness are monitored. Other aspects of competitiveness, such as quality, design and delivery dates are important but are not readily quantifiable.