§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Employment what he estimates, at the latest date for which comparative data is available, to be the average hourly earnings in new pence per hour of male manual workers in manufacturing industry in the United Kingdom, each EEC country, Sweden, United States of America, and Japan; and in how many minutes a worker on average earnings in each country has to work to earn, respectively, one dozen eggs, one large loaf of bread, one pound of tea, one pint of beer, one pound of tomatoes, and one hundredweight of coal.
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkComparisons of this type involve considerable uncertainties. In particular, these arise from the variation in systems of remuneration and taxation in different countries, from the importance of individual goods in the national patterns of consumption and from the use of official exchange rates to convert national currencies to a common basis.