HC Deb 25 March 1974 vol 871 c43W
Mr. Greville Janner

asked the Secretary of State for Industry what value of production he estimates that manufactures in the United Kingdom and in the city of Leicester, respectively, lost as a result of the three-day working week.

Mr. Benn

From the limited statistical information available, manufacturing output may have been reduced by up to one-fifth in the first quarter, equivalent to a loss of gross domestic product of the order of £1,000 million. For the economy as a whole the loss will have been substantially greater. I have no information from which to judge the loss of manufacturing output in Leicester. The index of average earnings in January, the latest month available, showed a fall of 4½ per cent. compared with December.

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