HC Deb 04 December 1979 vol 975 cc109-10W
32. Mr. Hal Miller

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he has any estimate of the amount of wages lost by shop floor workers during the engineering dispute, the resulting loss to companies, and increase in rent arrears of councils.

Mr. Mayhew

It is estimated, in very round terms, from the monthly index of average earnings for August and September that the earnings of weekly paid employees in the engineering sector may have been some £200 million below what they might have been in the absence of the dispute. This estimate is very tentative. No estimate can be made of the loss to companies or of the increase in rent arrears of councils.