§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the correlation over the past decade between the wages of women relative to those of men and the number of women in employment relative to the number of men in employment.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkAverage weekly earnings of all full-time female employees increased from 57.2 per cent. of all full time male earnings in 1974 to 65.5 per cent. in 1984 according to the new earnings survey. In the period from June 1974 to June 1984 the ratio of full-time female employees to male employees increased from 41.2 per cent. to 42.4 per cent.
In addition a large number of women have joined the labour force on a part-time basis but it is difficult to provide comparable earnings data.
32WThe positive correlation between full-time female relative earnings and employment can be attributed to the combined effects of equal pay legislation and the relative buoyancy of those sectors of the labour market which employ most female labour.
§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Employment which three regions of the United Kingdom have the highest levels of unemployment; and which three regions have the lowest wage rates.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkUnemployment rates by region are included in the monthly press notice of unemployment and vacancy figures, copies of which are available in the Library. Figures of the average gross weekly earnings of full-time adult employees working a full week in each of the regions of the United Kingdom in April 1983 are given in tables 8.7 and 8.8 of "Regional Trends 1984", a copy of which is also available in the Library.