§ Mr. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for Employment by what percentage labour productivity per head in manufacturing industry increased between June 1979 and May 1982; and how this compares with the percentage change in labour productivity per head in manufacturing industry over the previous three years in May of every year since 1948.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe readily available information on output per head in manufacturing industry relates to each year from 1950 and each quarter from 1959. Information for the second quarter of 1982 is not yet available. The individual figures for the first two quarters of 1979 were distorted because of the effects of bad weather and industrial disputes, and consequently comparisons are usually made with the whole of the first half of that year.
Between the first half of 1979 and the first quarter of 1982 seasonally adjusted output per head in manufacturing industry in the United Kingdom increased by 5.2 per cent. Other figures are as follows:
77W
Percentage changes in output per head in manufacturing industry in the United Kingdom Three years to Per cent. 1953 2.3 1954 4.7 1955 13.5 1956 5.9 1957 5.5 1958 2.4 1959 9.0 1960 11.0 1961 9.2 1962 Second quarter 6.3 1963 Second quarter 3.8
Three years to Per cent. 1964 Second quarter 11.7 1965 Second quarter 14.0 1966 Second quarter 12.9 1967 Second quarter 7.5 1968 Second quarter 13.6 1969 Second quarter 14.9 1970 Second quarter 11.7 1971 Second quarter 5.4 1972 Second quarter 8.1 1973 Second quarter 17.3 1974 Second quarter 16.8 1975 Second quarter 2.9 1976 Second quarter 1.3 1977 Second quarter 0.8 1978 Second quarter 10.1 1979 First half 5.6 1980 Second quarter 0.3 1981 Second quarter -0.4