§ Mr. Wainwrightasked the Paymaster General if he will publish in the Official Report the statistics on wages councils employment and compliance with wages councils rates in 1986 in the same format used in the reply given on 17 April 1986, Official Report, columns 493–98; if he will also indicate the effect on employment in each wages council sector of the removal of young people from wages council coverage; and if he will show for each wages council the extent of underpayment of young people aged under 21 years before their removal from wages council coverage.
§ Mr. LeeThe information requested is given in the tables, except that statistics relating to underpayments of young people under the age of 21 are not available.
Attempts to estimate the employment effects of the reforms implemented by the Wages Act 1986 are not likely to be fruitful, but the removal of statutory minima, which prevent employers from offering jobs at rates which young people would accept, must result in increased employment.
335W
All checks pay (visited and not visited) Inspections by visit Establishments checked Percentage of register checked Number of establishments underpaying Percentage of establishments underpaying Establishments visited Percentage of register visited Number of establishments visited underpaying Percentage of establishment:; visited underpaying Cotton Furniture and Cerement Making 3 11.1 — — 3 11.1 1 33.3 Cotton Waste Reclamation 5 11.9 — — 5 11.9 — — Fax and Hemp 3 14.3 — — 3 14.3 — — Fur 32 9.6 3 9.3 32 9.6 3 9.4 General Waste Materials Reclamation 165 10.2 7 4.2 161 9.9 7 4.3 Hairdressing and Undertakings 3,640 11.1 846 23.2 2,379 7.3 846 35.6 Hat, Cap and Millinery 14 10.5 — — 14 10.5 — — Lace Finishing 2 2.9 1 50.0 2 2.9 1 50.0 Laundry 106 11.5 25 23.5 90 9.8 25 27.8 Linen and Cotton Handkerchief 14 7.9 4 28.5 14 7.9 4 28.6 Made-up Textiles 41 12.3 2 4.8 41 12.3 2 4.9 Ostrich and Fancy Feather 6 24.0 1 16.6 6 24.0 1 16.7 Perambulator and Invalid Carriage 3 9.1 — — 3 9.1 — — Retail Bespoke Tailoring 63 11.0 9 14.2 60 10.4 9 15 Rope, Twine and Net 7 6.7 — — 7 6.7 — — Sack and Bag 8 8.2 2 25.0 8 8.2 2 25.0 Toy Manufacturing 26 9.6 6 23.0 24 8.9 6 25.0 Retail Trades (Non Food) 8,011 7.7 1,713 21.3 4,634 4.5 1,713 37.0 Retail Food and Allied Trades 10,876 9.8 2,208 20.3 5,539 5.0 2,208 39.9 Licensed Non-Residential 6,100 9.5 1,246 20.4 5,266 8.2 1,246 23.7 Licensed Residential Eastablishment and Licensed Restaurant 3,662 11.2 1,242 33.9 3,350 10.2 1,242 37.1 Unlicensed Place of Refreshment 1,816 10.6 550 30.2 1,601 9.4 550 34.4 Total 35,777 9.5 8,205 22.9 18,388 6.5 8,206 33.7
336W337W
Table 3 Wages covered by wages councils and results of pay checks in 1986 Estimated number of workers covered by Wages Council Orders at June 1982 Workers whose pay was checked by visit and other methods Workers whose pay was checked by visit Workers under-paid Percentage underpaid of all workers checked Percentage underpaid of all workers checked by visit Arrears paid £ Arrears waived by-workers £ Arrears not pursued £ Arrears assessed £ 1 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Aerated Waters 15,000 3,212 688 1 0.03 0.1 46 — — 46 Clothing Manufacture 252,800 17,388 15,704 942 5.42 6.0 57,453 2,947 35,478 95,878 Boot and Shoe Manufacturing 7,100 518 447 27 5.21 6.0 4,151 474 461 5,086 Button Manufacturing 2,100 164 164 — — — — — — — Coffin Furniture and Cerement Making 300 31 31 1 3.23 3.2 20 — — 20 Cotton Waste Reclamation 500 39 39 — — — — — — — Flax and Hemp 1,400 34 34 — — — — — — — Fur 4,500 153 153 3 1.96 2.0 522 — — 522 General Waste Materials Reclamation 19,300 1,501 1,475 15 1.00 1.0 1,147 226 212 1,585 Hairdressing Undertakings 135,600 11,549 7,446 1,114 9.65 15.0 124,820 27,240 18,127 170,187 Hat, Cap and Millinery 6,800 607 607 — — — — — — — Lace Finishing 800 23 23 1 4.35 4.3 43 — — 43 Laundry 33,700 2,477 1,965 66 2,66 3.4 5,683 1,125 4,481 11,289 Linen and Cotton Handkerchief 5,200 191 191 10 5.24 5.2 615 — — 615 Made-up Textile 4,800 467 467 2 0.43 0.4 157 — — 157 Ostrich and Fancy Feather 1,400 192 192 1 0.52 0.5 48 — — 48 Perambulator and Invalid Carriage 1,500 127 127 — — — — — — — Retail Bespoke Tailoring 5,200 190 177 10 5.26 5.6 2,350 — 136 2,486 Rope, Twine and Net 4,000 189 189 — — — — — — — Sack and Bag 1,400 52 52 4 7.69 7.7 263 — — 263 Toy Manufacturing 18,900 544 515 23 4.23 4.5 816 — 301 1,117 Retail Non-Food Trades 512,800 58,378 18,974 2,782 4.77 14.7 361,300 99,656 83,966 544,922 Retail Food and Allied Trades 519,300 58,281 20,531 4,285 7.35 20.9 423,802 150,919 99,692 674,413 Licensed non-Residential 508,700 48,698 31,134 2,656 5.45 8.5 269,980 52,910 46,405 369,295 Licensed Residential and Restaurant 555,300 49,457 30,751 2,370 4.79 7.7 226,995 33,342 39,931 300,268 Unlicensed Place of Refreshment 116,400 17,049 7,284 1,220 7.16 16.7 108,224 38,862 19,816 166,902 Total 2,734,800 271,511 139,360 15,533 5.72 11.1 1,588,435 407,701 349,006 2,345,14 1 The estimates in column 2 include workers under the age of 21 who are no longer covered by wages councils. Work is in hand to prepare revised estimates.
Table 4 Checks of pay carried out at establishments and underpayments found—Analysis by division—1986 All checks of pay (visited and not visited) Inspections by visit Division Establishments checked 1 Percentage of register checked 2 Number of establishments underpaying 3 Percentage of establishments underpaying 4 Establishments visited 5 Percentage of register visited 6 Number of establishments visited underpaying 7 Percentage of establish-ments visited underpaying 8 London 2,852 6.3 608 21.3 2,214 4.9 608 27.5 South Eastern 4,474 14.3 646 14.4 2,749 8.8 646 23.5 Eastern 5,341 10.4 974 18.2 3,588 7.0 974 27.1 South Western 2,319 7.3 832 35.9 1,802 5.7 832 46.2 Midlands 4,755 8.2 943 19.8 2,694 4.6 943 35.0 North Western 4,960 10.1 1,397 28.2 3,569 7.3 1,397 39.1 Yorkshire and Humberside 3,486 10.3 805 23.1 2,218 6.5 805 36.3 Northern 2,284 10.9 844 37.0 1,741 8.3 844 48.5 Scotland 3,754 10.3 656 17.5 2,433 6.7 656 27.0 Wales 1,552 8.6 500 32.2 1,318 7.3 500 37.9 Great Britain 35,777 9.5 8,205 22.9 24,326 6.5 8,205 33.7 Note:
The Divisional figures for the number of establishments where pay was checked by methods not involving inspection visits include multiple firms whose head office is located in the Division whose branches are in other areas. This needs to be taken into account when comparing the Divisional figures shown in columns 1–4 of Table 4.
Table 5 Workers whose pay was checked in each wages inspectorate division—1986 Division Workers whose pay was checked by visit and other methods Workers whose pay was checked by visit Workers underpaid Percentage underpaid of all workers checked Percentage underpaid of all workers checked by visit Arrears paid Arrears waived workers Arrears not pursued Total arrears assessed £ £ £ £ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 London 23,743 12,851 947 4.0 7.4 143,814 40,070 28,956 212,840 South East 30,678 16,802 1,062 3.5 6.3 105,813 21,841 9,374 137,028 Eastern 42,688 20,832 1,783 4.2 8.6 179,843 44,046 26,883 250,772 South West 13,543 9,976 1,614 11.9 16.2 144,744 17,933 42,966 205,643 Midlands 49,370 16,435 1,833 3.7 11.2 191,095 52,870 58,982 302,947 North West 41,664 19,905 2,701 6.5 13.6 292,071 94,804 58,510 445,385 Yorkshire and Humberside 22,506 13,571 1,576 7.0 11.6 148,637 46,497 22,998 218,132 Northern 10,643 8,268 1,751 16.5 21.2 147,812 10,337 16,214 174,363 Scotland 28,864 13,745 1,200 4.2 8.7 116,224 39,508 32,182 187,914 Wales 7,812 6,975 1,066 13.6 15.3 118,382 39,795 51,941 210,118 Total 271,511 139,360 15,533 5.7 11.1 1,588,435 407,701 349,006 2,345,142 The Divisional figures for the number of workers whose pay was checked by methods not involving inspection visits include workers employed by multiple firms whose head office is located in the Division, who are employed in branches in other areas. This needs to be taken into account when comparing the Divisional figures shown in columns 2 and 5 of Table 5.