§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will publish in the Official Report a table comparing the increase in the profitability of exports with the increase in relative export prices and relative unit labour costs, together with an explanation of the transmission mechanism from costs to prices and profits over the relevant period.
§ Mr. FletcherFigures on actual profitability are not available. An index of relative profitability, together with274W the other indices, is in the table. The actual profitability of exports will depend on the relationship between prices and costs, the largest element of which is the cost of labour.
United Kingdom Exports of Manufactures Profitability and Labour Costs 1980 = 100 Year Relative profitability of exports* Relative export prices† Relative unit labour costs‡ 1970 103.4 80.9 70.8 1971 98.8 82.6 72.9 1972 98.4 82.7 71.1 1973 101.3 76.1 63.1 1974 101.3 74.6 63.1 1975 103.5 77.9 69.1 1976 104.7 75.5 63.3 1977 106.4 79.7 62.3 1978 106.5 84.5 68.0 1979 102.5 90.4 81.1 1980 100.0 100.0 100.0 1981 100.5 98.1 100.4 1982 102.4 92.7 94.5 1983 106.2 90.1 86.2 1984 108.7 88.3 85.1 * United Kingdom export unit value compared with index of United Kingdom producer output prices. † United Kingdom export unit value compared with weighted average of competitor countries' unit value indices, all in a common currency. ‡ United Kingdom labour costs per unit of output compared with weighted average of competitor countries' labour costs, all in a common currency. Sources: Department of Trade and Industry and IMF.