§ Sir G. de Freitasasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the percentage increase in productivity in the steel industry in each of the last 10 years in each of the countries of the European Economic Community.
§ Mr. NobleThere are no generally accepted measures of labour productivity in steel available in internationally comparable terms. To show meaningful changes over time it would be necessary to allow for the changing pattern of output and, especially in the countries of the Community, to take account of steel melted in one country and rolled in another. Variations of the extent to which capacity is used also make year-to-year changes in the employment-output quotent misleading. For the Community countries combined, the underlying increase in labour productivity between 1969 and 1970 is estimated as averaging about 5.8 per cent. a year.