§ Mr. Dempseyasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report details showing the average wages earned by males and females, respectively, in each region of the United Kingdom at the last convenient date.
§ Mr. Golding, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 28th October 1976; Vol. 918, c. 375], gave the following information:
The New Earnings Survey results for April 1976 given in my reply to my hon. Friend's Question on 28th October 1976 are the latest estimates covering both manual and non-manual workers in all industries. Regional results of my Department's more limited annual survey of earnings and hours of manual workers in manuafacturing and certain other industries in October 1976 were published in the March issue of my Department's Gazette (pages 247 to 249).
Average weekly earnings of full-time manual workers Men aged 21 and over Women aged 18 and over England £66.85 £40.45 South-East £67.99 £41.13 East Anglia £64.35 £39.54 South-West £62.63 £40.03 West Midlands £66.88 £41.92 East Midlands £63.82 £37.42 Yorkshire and Humberside £65.45 £38.53 North-West £66.25 £40.48 North £68.28 £39.79 Wales £67.69 £40.78 Scotland £67.88 £42.21 Northern Ireland £62.59 £38.68 United Kingdom £66.97 £40.61 The figures include overtime, shift pay etc.
On average women worked six to seven hours less than men.
Differences in average earnings between regions include the effects of different 676W industrial and occupational structures. They do not, therefore, give a precise indication of differences in earnings for comparable work.