§ Mr. TrickettTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what his estimate is of the number of people in(a) Hemsworth constituency and (b) Wakefield district earning less than £4.10 per hour; [153007]
(2) what his estimate is of the number of people in (a) Hemsworth constituency and (b) Wakefield district who have benefited from the introduction of the minimum wage. [153006]
§ 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 Jon Trickett, dated 9 March 2001:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent questions about the number of people in Hemsworth and Wakefield who have benefited from the National Minimum Wage (NMW) so far, and the number of people in these areas who earn less than £4.10 an hour (153006, 153007). I am replving in his absence.400WThe Office for National Statistics has published estimates of the number of jobs paid at less than specific hourly pay thresholds for all workers in the United Kingdom for Spring 2000, and the number of jobs paid at less than NMW rates for Spring 2000, disaggregated by gender and full and part-time. These estimates are based on an improved methodology using data from the New Earnings Survey (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: hup://www. statistics.gov.uk/nsbase/themes/labour_market/nmw_ lowpay_tables.aspThe new methodology has been developed to overcome the deficiencies inherent in the two surveys, the NES and LFS, in measuring low pay. Estimates based on this methodology are not available for the areas requested.