§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his Department's estimate of the level at which output per man hour in manufacturing industry will have grown by the end of 1980.
§ Mr. BiffenI regret that there are no official estimates of output per man hour in manufacturing. However, in the third quarter of 1980 output per person employed in manufacturing had declined by about 5 per cent. against its average 1979 level and average weekly hours worked per operative had declined by about 3 per cent. Although these two series are not fully compatible, they would suggest that output per man hour has fallen in 1980 but by a smaller amount than output per person employed.