§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will compare the national average wage in Great Britain with those in each of the other EEC countries, expressed in £ sterling for the latest date for which figures are available; and if he will express each as a percentage of the British national average wage.
§ Mr. Golding, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 18 January 1979; Vol. 960, c. 856], gave the following information:
The following table gives the latest available data which relate to manual workers in manufacturing and certain other production industries in October 1977.
The figures given are not strictly comparable owing to differences in national definitions. Furthermore, international comparisons of earnings statistics are not meaningful unless account is taken of differences in taxation and social benefits and differences in internal purchasing power which are not reflected by market exchange rates.
AVERAGE GROSS HOURLY EARNINGS OF MANUAL WORKERS IN MANUFACTURING, MINING, QUARRYING AND CONSTRUCTION—OCTOBER 1977. £ sterling* Percentage of United Kingdom figure United Kingdom 1.54 100 Germany (FR) 2.82 183 France 1.83 119 Italy . . . . Netherlands 2.81 182 Belgium 2.85 185 Luxembourg 3.17 206 Irish Republic†‡ 1.49 97 Denmark‡ 3.49 227 Notes: . . Not available * Based on average market exchange rates of October 1977. † September 1977. ‡ Excluding construction. SOURCES:
Eurostat—"Hourly earnings Hours of work".
Irish—"Industrial Enquiries".