§ Mr. BrowneTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate how many(a) men and (b) women working (i) part-time and (ii) full-time in Kilmarnock and Loudoun earn less than (1) £3 per hour, (2) £3.60 per hour and (3) £2.50 per hour; and in each case if he will give the percentage of the total number employed. [47078]
§ Mrs. Liddell[holding answer 23 June 1998]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Desmond Browne, dated June 1998:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on earnings in Kilmarnock and Loudoun.The latest information, from the New Earnings Survey (NES) April 1997, is contained in the attached table. The NES is based on a one percent sample of employees in the PAYE system and is therefore likely to under-represent relatively low paid staff and in particular those who work part-time.The extent of this bias may be estimated for Scotland by using data from the NES augmented by data from the Labour Force Survey. This suggests that the estimate of the proportion of employees earning below £3.00 and £3.60 could understate the true position by as much as 3 percentage points. However, it is unlikely that the occurrence of lower paid jobs is uniform across the country, and so it would be wise to treat these figures as broadly indicative rather than as precise estimates.
Employees on adult rates, whose pay for the survey pay-period was unaffected by absence—New Earnings Survey—April 1997 Percentage of employees with hourly earnings (excluding overtime) less than: Kilmarnock and Loudoun £2.50 £3.00 £3.60 Full-time men 0.0 0.0 0.0 Part-time men 1— 1— 1— Full-time women 1.7 1.7 13.6 Part-time women 2.4 9.5 28.6 All employees 1.1 2.8 11.0 1Denotes an estimate which is unavailable because the sample size is too small
§ Gillian MerronTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate how many people in the constituency of Lincoln earn less than the proposed national minimum wage, broken down by(a) gender, (b) age and (c) full- or part-time employment. [47092]
32W
§ Mrs. Liddell[holding answer 24 June 1998]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Gillian Merron, dated June 1998:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on earnings in Lincoln.The national minimum wage will become effective in April 1999 and has been set at £3.60 for employees aged over 21 and £3.00 for those aged 18 to 21, although there are a number of qualifications to this general observation.The Low Pay Commission, in arriving at their recommendations, had to adjust 1999 pay rates to 1997 values. Their methodology produces £2.80 and £3.40 as the 1997 values of the government's preferred rates and I have provided supplementary data for these levels.The attached table presents data from the 1997 New Earnings Survey (NES) for the parliamentary constituency of Lincoln. I cannot provide data for those aged 18–21 years who would earn below the proposed minimum wage since there were only 10 individuals in the NES sample for Lincoln.The NES is based on a one percent sample of employees in the PAYE system and is therefore likely to under-represent relatively low paid staff and in particular those who work part-time.The extent of this bias may be estimated for the East Midlands by using data from the NES augmented by data from the Labour Force Survey. This suggests that the estimate of the overall proportion of employees earning below £03.60 could understate the true position by as much as 3 percentage points. However, it is unlikely that the occurrence of lower paid jobs is uniform across the region, and so it would be wise to treat these figures as broadly indicative rather than as precise estimates.
Employees whose pay for the survey pay-period was unaffected by absence—New Earnings Survey—April 1997 Percentage of employees with hourly earnings excluding overtime and shift payments less than: £3.40 £3.60 Lincoln—Employees aged over 21 on adult rates of pay Full-time males 0.7 2.1 Part-time males 1— 1— All males 0.6 1.9 Full-time females 4.3 9.6 Part-time females 9.2 22.4 All females 6.5 15.3 All full-time 2.1 5.0 All part-time 8.3 20.2 All 3.7 9.0 1Denotes an estimate which is unavailable because the sample size is too small