HC Deb 30 April 1990 vol 171 c441W
Mr. Neil Hamilton

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out in tabular form for the period 1980 to 1990, for the United Kingdom, France and Italy, the change in unit labour costs and the change in currency parities expressed as a percentage against German unit labour costs and the value of the deutschmark.

Mr. Ryder

The table shows indices of EC and CSO estimates of relative unit labour costs (whole economy), expressed in a common currency (deutschmark), for the years since 1980 for which complete data are available.

United Kingdom (CSO) France Italy Germany
1980 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1981 115.0 104.1 108.9 100.0
1982 107.2 99.9 111.0 100.0
1983 100.3 98.1 119.4 100.0
1984 101.5 100.3 124.3 100.0
1985 104.4 103.7 125.7 100.0
1986 89.3 98.8 122.1 100.0
1987 84.2 94.1 121.1 100.0
1988 95.1 93.6 124.7 100.0

These figures have been derived using whole economy unit labour cost indices as published by the European Commission in "European Economy, November 1989" by the CSO in "Monthly Digest of Statistics", and from the nominal bilateral exchange rates published by the IMF in "International Financial Statistics".

Mr. Nicholas Bennett

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information he has as to percentage changes in unit labour costs in each European Community country and percentage changes in each European Community country's exchange rate against the deutschmark in the past five years.

Mr. Ryder

[holding answer 26 April 1990]: The table shows indices of EC and CSO estimates of relative unit labour costs (whole economy), expressed in a common currency (deutschmark), for the latest five years for which complete data are available.

Indices, 1980 = 100
1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
United Kingdom (CSO) 101.5 104.4 89.3 84.2 95.1
Germany 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
France 100.3 103.7 98.8 94.1 93.6
Italy 124.3 125.7 122.1 121.1 124.7
Netherlands 92.7 91.4 90.7 90.2 90.1
Belgium 88.1 90.8 89.6 86.6 85.7
Luxembourg 87.6 87.8 86.5 87.7 88.4
Denmark 101.0 103.8 101.4 107.9 111.7
Greece 127.5 127.8 101.8 95.9 102.9
Ireland 111.6 115.1 110.0 101.2 100.9
Spain 94.3 95.6 90.6 88.8 95.9
Portugal 101.0 105.0 96.6 93.1 97.0

These figures have been derived using the whole economy unit labour costs indices published by the EC in "European Economy, November 1989" and by the CSO in "Monthly Digest of Statistics", and from the nominal bilateral exchange rates published by the IMF in "International Financial Statistics".