§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he is able to estimate the number of working people who in each separate region of the United Kingdom earn above the national average wage;
(2) if he is able to estimate the number of working people who in each separate region of the United Kingdom earn below the national average wage.
§ Mr. GoldingThe New Earnings Survey estimate for April 1977 of the average gross earnings of full-time non-manual and manual, male and female employees aged 18 and over on 1st January whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence was slightly under £70 per week.
If £70 per week is taken as "the average national wage", the percentages of men aged 21 and over and women aged 18 and over within the various regions earning less than that average in April 1977 when working full-time and when absence did not affect their pay were:
Region Men aged 21 and over Women aged 18 and over South East 40 82 East Anglia 56 90 South West 55 87 West Midlands 45 89 East Midlands 50 90 Yorkshire and Humberside 49 90 North West 48 89 North 45 88 Wales 47 87 Scotland 47 90 Great Britain 46 87 These estimates are subject to sampling errors.