§ Mr. Denzil Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many minutes a person earning the average industrial wage would have to work to purchase 10 gallons of petrol in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) France, (c) West Germany and (d) Italy, respectively.
§ Mr. Jim LesterFollowing is the latest available information based on average industrial gross hourly earnings. Caution is required in making comparisons based on these figures, which are before tax, because of differences in national systems of remuneration and taxation and in the definitions and methods for compiling the statistics.
Minutes of work required to earn (a)—before tax—the price of 10 gallons of "four star" or equivalent grade of petrol in October 1977 United Kingdom 300 France 411 German F R 218 Italy (b) 553 Notes: (a) manual workers on average gross hourly earnings in manufacturing, mining, quarrying and construction industries.
(b) October 1976.
Sources: Department of Energy, Eurostat: Hourly earnings, hours of work.
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