§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will publish a table showing the absolute and percentage change in the level of manufacturing employment in each Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development country since October 1990; and if she will make a statement on the United Kingdom's relative performance according to this indicator.
§ Mr. McLoughlinComparable information from the OECD is available only for the total of the energy, manufacturing and construction industries. Manufacturing is the lagest component but its share in the total differs between member states. Changes since September 1990 are shown in the table.
Changes in civilian employment in production and construction industries between September 1990 and June 1992 Seasonally adjusted (thousands) Absolute change Percentage change Canada -284 -9.2 USA -1,578 -5.1 Japan 761 3.6 Australia -164 -8.2 Austria1 27 2.2 Finland -153 -20.1 France2 -175 -2.7 West Germany 47 0.4 Italy3 -85 -1.2 Norway -32 -6.5 Portugal3 -118 -7.5 Spain -128 -3.0 Sweden -173 -13.2 Switzerland -62 -5.0 United Kingdom4 -767 -11.6 1 Latest data available is at December 1991. 2 Figures available are not seasonally adjusted. 3 Latest data available is at March 1992. 4 Figures exclude participants in work related Government training programmes (for which separate industry estimates are not available). Source: OECD, except United Kingdom (Employment Department).
The level of employment is not the only or the best indicator of the health of the country's manufacturing sector. It would be wrong to ignore improvements in productivity for instance. A better measure is provided by the ratio of manufacturing output to total gross domestic product. This has remained broadly constant in the United Kingdom over the past 10 years, as it has in a number of other countries including France, Italy and west Germany.