§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give his latest estimate of the index of real take-home pay of the average industrial worker for 1978–79, using 1945–46 as a base of 100.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 18th January 1979],gave the following information
The figure for 1978–79 would be 180.
This figure is based on a married couple with the man earning average manual wages.
The assumed level of average earnings—for 1978–79—has been obtained by updating to October 1978 the new earnings survey estimate of average earnings of full-time men in April, taking account of movements in a centred three-month moving average of the whole-economy index of average earnings of all employees.