§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to the Written Answer to the hon. Member for Blaby, Official Report, 27th February, column 85, if he will publish a revised table of changes in output per head of occupied 241W population in various countries between 1973 and 1976 on the basis of current exchange rates instead of 1970 exchange rates.
§ Mr. Denzil Davies,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 13th March 1978 Vol. 946, c. 41], gave the following information:
The usual convention in international comparisons is to use exchange rates expressed in terms of the same base year as the volume indices. The earlier answer—[Vol. 945, column 85]—gave comparable figures for output per head of occupied population based on a valuation of gross domestic product on this basis, i.e., at constant 1970 prices and at 1970 exchange rates. Figures for gross domestic product per head, expressed at current prices and at current exchange rates, are also published by SOEC and give the following results:
Table 1 Output per head of Occupied Population (1) Percentage change 1973–76 Netherlands … 47.1 Denmark … 42.0 France … 36.8 German Federal Republic … 35.0 United States of America … 25.5 United Kingdom (2) … 24.0 Irish Republic … 21.4 Italy … 16.4 Belgium … 28.7 (3) Luxembourg … 8.1 (3) Expressing output per head in terms of output at one year's prices but another year's exchange rates has less statistical significance. However, using exchange rates against Eur (4), as published by SOEC. the following results can be derived:
(i) volume indices based on gross domestic product per head at constant 1970 prices and 1976 exchange rates:
242W
TABLE 2 Output per head of Occupied Population (1) Percentage change 1973–76 German Federal Republic … +10.1 France … +9.4 Netherlands … +8.7 Irish Republic … +7.1 Denmark … +5.8 Italy … +3.5 United Kingdom (2) … +1.4 United States of America … +0.7 Belgium … +1.6 (3) Luxembourg … -7.2 (3) (ii) volume indices based on gross domestic product per head at constant 1970 prices 1973 values expressed at 1973 exchange rates, 1976 values at 1976 exchange rates:
TABLE 3 Output per head of Occupied Population (1) Percentage change 1973–76 German Federal Republic … +14.2 Netherlands … +12.6 Denmark … +4.9 France … +0.3 United States of America … -0.8 Irish Republic … -22.4 United Kingdom (2) … -26.6 Italy … -28.4 Belgium … + 1.6 (3) Luxembourg … -7.2 (3) Source: SOEC National Accounts ESA 1960–1976 Table A5 and page 3 (Tables 1–3).
(1) Gross domestic product based on expenditure data per head of occupied population.
(2) Excluding private domestic staff.
(3) Percentage change 1973–1975.
(4) The unit of account used is statistical publications of the SOEC.
§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Written Answer to the hon. Member for Blaby on 19th March, and pending the publication by the OECD of complete figures for 1976, if he will state the percentage increase on productivity in the United Kingdom between 1973 and 1975, the comparable percentage increase on productivity in the OECD area as a whole over the same period, and the increase in United Kingdom productivity expressed as a percentage of the increase on productivity in that OECD area as a whole between 1973 and 1975.
§ Mr. Denzil Davies,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 14th March 1978], gave the following information:
Pursuant to the Written Answer to the hon. Member—[Vol. 945, c. 764–5]—the percentage increase in output per head (1) for the period 1973 to 1975 for the United Kingdom—on OECD basis—was minus 1.0, and for the OECD as a whole was minus 0.8. The decline in output per head in the United Kingdom was 25 per cent. greater than that for the OECD as a whole, although, as can be seen. the changes themselves are very small.
Sources: GDP—National Accounts of OECD countries 1975, Volume 1, Main Aggregates Employment—Labour Force Statistics 1964–75.
(1) Gross domestic product (GDP) in purchasers' values at 1970 prices and 1970 exchange rates per head of total employment.