§ Mr. Bendallasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the average gross hourly earnings in manufacturing industry and the economy as a whole in October 1978 and at the latest available date, expressed in terms of pounds sterling, in each member state of the European Community, Japan, the United States of America and Canada.
§ Mr. GummerThe latest available comparable figures covering full-time adult manual employees in the member states of the European Community and relating to October 1981 were given in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Hannam) on 21 February.—[Vol. 37, c.318–319].
The comparable figures for October 1978 are as follows:
Average gross hourly earnings (£) of adult manual employees in manufacturing industry Based on exchange rates* Based on purchasing power parities United Kingdom 1.76 1.76 Federal German Republic 3.21 1.93 France 2.07 1.46 Italy 1.71 1.81 Netherlands 3.13 1.94 Belgium 3.28 2.02 Luxembourg 3.75 2.59 Irish Republic 1.70 1.71 Denmark 4.14 2.38 Source: Eurostat. Hourly Earnings: Hours of work (2–1980). Note: *Based on sterling exchange rates in October 1978. As differences in exchange rates do not necessarily indicate equivalent differences in the purchasing power of earnings in different countries, figures have been prepared by EUROSTAT which take account of relative price levels in each country and which modify the picture given by using exchange rates. Comparable figures for the whole economy and for Japan, the United States, Canada and Greece are not available.
§ Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Secretary of State for Employment, year by year, what was the average annual increase or decrease in real wages for the United Kingdom from 1979 to the latest available date.
§ Mr. AlisonThe information is as follows:
Percentage increase Average Earnings Index (whole economy) Retail Prices Index (all items) 1979–1980 20.7 18.0 1980–1981 12.9 11.9 1981–1982 9.3 8.6