§ Lord Diamondasked Her Majesty's Government:
What were the comparable unit wage costs for the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan for each year subsequent to 1979, taking that year as 100 in each case.
§ The Secretary of State for Employment (Lord Young of Graffham)Precise comparisons of the unit wage cost figures for different countries cannot be made because of differences in definitions. The available figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for manufacturing industry are shown below:—
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UNIT WAGE COSTS IN MANUFACTURING Annual United Kingdom2 West Germany3 1979=1001 Japan 1979 100 100 100 1980 122 108 103 1981 134 113 109 1982 140 I17 114 1983 140 116 116 1984 144 115 110 1985 152 115 112 1985 Quarter 3 154 115 111 1986 Quarter 3 160 120 115 Notes
1. Converted from indices base 1980=11, and therefore subject to rounding differences.
2. Published in Employment Gazette, February 1987, Table 5.7 with 1980=100.
3. Manufacturing and mining.
A copy of the relevant OECD publication Main Economic Indicators is available in the Library. 1986 Quarter 3 is the latest period for which figures are available for West Germany and Japan but these figures show that the rate of increase in the United Kingdom over the last year compares favourably with West Germany and Japan.