§ Mr. J. H. Osbornasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the amount of overtime being worked by men and by women, respectively, and total, and with each industrial category at the present time; and, on the basis that in each case and in total the number of hours worked each week were brought to the appropriate statutory level, what is his estimate for the number of vacancies 428W which would become available to provide opportunities for further employment.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithI circulate below a table showing the amount of overtime worked in August.
The statistics relate only to operatives other than maintenance workers at establishments with 11 or more employees in manufacturing industries and provide information for males and females collectively but not separately. Because the amount of overtime worked varies so much from week to week, and from establishment to establishment, no realistic estimate can be made of the number of vacancies that would arise from a reduction in the amount of overtime worked.
Following is the information:
OVERTIME HOURS WORKED BY OPERATIVES IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES*IN GREAT BRITAIN—WEEK ENDED 14TH AUGUST, 1971 (Thousands) Food, drink and tobacco 1,829 Coal and petroleum products 49 Chemicals and allied industries 523 Metal manufacture 782 Mechanical engineering (including marine engineering) 2,170 Instrument engineering 201 Electrical engineering 845 Vehicles 850 Metal goods not elsewhere specified 1,014 Textiles 750 Leather, leather goods and fur 74 Clothing and footwear 140 Bricks, pottery, glass, cement, etc. 722 Timber, furniture, etc. 539 Paper, printing and publishing 1,052 Other manufacturing industries 530 Total, all manufacturing industries* 12,070 * Excluding shipbuilding and ship repairing.