HC Deb 14 February 1980 vol 978 cc782-3W
Mr. Michael Brown

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish figures to show the extent to which manufacturing production in Northern Ireland has declined since 1973.

Mr. Giles Shaw

Since 1973, the yearly average of the monthly index of manufacturing production for Northern Ireland has been as follows:

1975=100
Year Index
1973 111
1974 103
1975 100
1976 102
1977 101
1978 101
1979 100*
* Estimate based on the first eleven months of 1979.

Expressed in percentage terms, the level of manufacturing output fell by 9 per cent. during the period 1973–1979. Over the same period, the number of employees in manufacturing employment is estimated to have fallen by 15.5 per cent.