§ Mr. AlexanderTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of workers on adult rates of pay in part-time employment have hourly earnings, including and excluding overtime pay, that are less than(a) £5, (b) £6, (c) £7 and (d) £3.60 in (i) Scotland, (ii) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (iii) Great Britain, broken down by (1) male manual, (2) male non-manual, (3) all male workers, (4) female manual, (5) female non-manual, (6) all female workers, (7) all manual, (8) all non-manual and (9) all workers; what the average weekly earnings are, including and excluding overtime, for part-time workers in (A) Scotland and (B) each of the local unitary local authority areas in Scotland for (X) all employment and (Y) non-manual employment. [152153]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Douglas Alexander, dated 7 March 2001:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question on average weekly earnings and hourly earnings for workers in Great Britain, Scotland and the unitary authorities in Scotland (152153). I am replying in his absence.In order to address the issue of weekly pay, I have used data from the New Earnings Survey (NES). This survey can provide earnings data for small geographical areas. The release of NES data is restricted to figures that are derived from a sufficiently large sample of employees, and have an acceptable level of accuracy. I have provided the available data for average weekly earnings for part-time workers for Scotland and the unitary authority areas in Scotland. These are based on the 2000 NES, the latest survey for which data are available.228WFor hourly pay, I refer you to estimates which have been developed to measure low hourly pay more accurately. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published estimates of the number of jobs paid at less than specific hourly low pay thresholds for all workers in the United Kingdom for Spring 2000, and the number of jobs paid at less than National Minimum Wage rates for Spring 2000, desegregated by gender and full and part time. These estimates are based on an improved methodology using data from the NES and Labour Force Survey (LFS). This methodology provides the best estimates for the number of jobs in the UK paid below low hourly rate thresholds. These estimates are posted on the National Statistics website at:www.statistics.gov.uk/themes/labour_market/nmw_lowpay_tables.asp.The improved methodology has been developed to overcome the deficiencies inherent in the two surveys, the NES and the LFS, in measuring low pay. Estimates based on this methodology are not available for the areas and population sub-groups requested.Whilst it is possible to produce estimates for the proportion of employee jobs earning less than the specified hourly thresholds from the NES, the NES underestimates the number of low pay jobs since it does not provide a comprehensive picture of the lower end of the earnings distribution.
Average weekly gross earnings, excluding overtime, for part-time employees for Scotland £ Average earnings All employees Non-manual 139.1 All 121.7
Average weekly gross earnings, excluding overtime, for part-time employees for unitary authority areas in Scotland £ Average earnings All employees Non-manual Edinburgh, City of 136.7 Glasgow City 130.2 All Edinburgh, City of 122.4 Glasgow City 117.4 South Lanarkshire 111.4
Average weekly gross earnings, including overtime, for part-time employees for Scotland £ Average earnings All employees Non-manual 145.6 All 128.2
Average weekly gross earnings, including overtime, for part-time employees for unitary authority areas in Scotland £ Average earnings All employees Non-manual Edinburgh, City of 143.4 Glasgow City 134.9 All Edinburgh, City of 128.5 Glasgow City 122.7 South Lanarkshire 118.3