HC Deb 02 May 1989 vol 152 cc87-8W
Mr. Robin Cook

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the income of pensioners with no other source of income than state benefits as a proportion of the average earnings of all male workers in each year since 1974.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

The information is as follows:

Average gross income of

pensioners with no other source of income than state benefits as a proportion of the average earnings of all

male workers

Year
1974 27
1975 27
1976 27
1977 29
1978 29
1979 28
1980 28
1981 29
1982 30
1983 30

1970. For 1980 onwards, labour figures for holdings classified as specialist or mainly dairying are given in the table, but even on these specialist holdings there are other activities to which some of this labour will be directed. About 15 per cent. of dairy cows are on non-specialist holdings, but it is not possible to estimate how much of the labour on these is attributable to the dairy enterprise.

Year
1984 31
1985 30
1986 29

Notes:

1. Pensioner incomes are from the family expenditure survey.

2. Earnings data are from the new earnings survey.

The average gross income of this group of pensioners as a proportion of all manual workers' earnings was 32 per cent. in 1974, 33 per cent. in 1979, increasing to 37 per cent. in 1986.