§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing (a) the real and (b) the percentage increase in unit labour costs in manufacturing since May 1979 and the corresponding figures for the increases in earnings; whether he will include the corresponding figures for the decade ending in 1973; and if he will account for the differences, if any, in each case.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonEstimates of unit labour costs in manufacturing are available only for calendar years, but over short periods a reasonable proxy is wages and salaries per unit of output. An indication of increases in costs in real terms can be obtained by a comparison with the retail prices index. The available information is as follows:
Percentage increases in costs and prices Labour costs per unit of output Average earnings of employees Retail prices index 1963 to 1973 60.4 135.6 73.2 First half of 1979* to third quarter of 1981 38.8† 42.2 40.6 Notes
* As the figures for May 1979 were temporarily inflated by the recovery from the effects of bad weather and industrial disputes in the first quarter of 1979, the monthly average for the first half of 1979 has been used as the basis for these comparisons.
† Based on the published figure of wages and salaries per unit of output for August 1981 which is obtained as the average of July to September.
The relative differences between the growth of unit labour costs and average earnings mainly reflect the slower rate of growth of output per head in the later period, although the later period is relatively short in relation to cyclical changes in economic activity.