§ Mr. Peter Lloydasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether, following his answer to the hon. Member for York (Mr. Lyon) on 13 July 1981, he will now publish the table on young persons' wages including data for 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1981; and whether he will provide an estimate of the degree to which the alteration of the school leaving age in 1973 affected the series.
§ Mr. AlisonThe following table sets out the available information.
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Ages* April Under 21 18 to 20 Under 18 16 17 18 19 20 1971 — — — — — — — — 1972 — — — — — — — — 1973 — — — — — — — — 1974 68 75 56 — — — — — 1975 68 74 58 53 60 68 75 79 1976 67 73 54 48 56 65 72 77 1977 68 74 55 — — — — — 1978 68 74 54 50 57 68 74 80 1979 69 75 56 52 58 69 74 80 1980 68 73 55 53 57 67 73 77 1981 67 71 53 49 55 66 71 76 * For 1974 and later years, age was measured in the survey in terms of completed years at 1 January preceding the survey. For 1973 and earlier years, age was measured in terms of completed years at the time of the survey in April. † A significant number of employees aged 15 were included in the survey prior to the raising of the school leaving age in 1973. ‡ For 1974 and earlier years and for 1977, analyses by individual years of age were not prepared. Source: New Earnings Survey.
It is estimated that between 3 and 5 percentage points of the increase between 1973 and 1974 in the percentage of average earnings of males under 21 to those of males aged 21 and over arose from the increase in the school leaving age. In addition, the change in the way in which age was measured (see *) accounted for 1 to 2 percentage points of the change in this percentage.
The relative earnings of females under 18 are estimated to have been affected to approximately the same extent as those of males.