HC Deb 12 July 1984 vol 63 cc645-6W
Mr. Leighton

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the levels of minimum wages set in the United States of America, Canada, France, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey; and what are their relationships to average earnings.

Mr. Alan Clark

Details on the level of minimum wage rates in the European countries are given in an article in "European Industrial Relations Review" No. 119, December 1983, pages 16 to 21. The International Labour Office report "Minimum Wage Fixing" by Gerald Starr, provides details for all countries in appendix 1, and more recent information for some countries is given in "Policies against low pay, an international perspective", published by the Policy Studies Institute (1984).

Corresponding earnings figures covering all employees and all industries and services are not readily available. However, the International Labour Office publications, "1983 Year Book of Labour Statistics" and the quarterly "Bulletin of Labour Statistics" provide details of the average earnings of manual employees in manufacturing and certain other sectors for the countries indicated.

These publications are available in the Library.