§ Mr. Richard Pageasked the Paymaster-General what information he has as to the cumulative increases in wage costs in the United Kingdom over the last five and 10 years 181W respectively; and what information he has as to how these figures compare with the equivalent figures for the United States of America, West Germany and Japan.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkBroadly comparable figures for the countries requested are only available for wages in manufacturing industries.
These are given in the following table.
Wages per head: Manufacturing *Great Britain †USA ‡West Germany ║Japan Percentage increase 1979–84 76 37 24 29 1974–84 278 107 70 100 Source: OECD 'Main Economic Indicators'
Notes:
* Average weekly earnings—all employees
† Average hourly earnings—production workers
‡ Average hourly earnings—manual workers
║ Average monthly earnings—manual workers