§ Mr. StrangTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his best estimate of the proportion of522W employees not represented in the new earnings survey; if he will estimate the proportions of young employees (a) aged under 21 years and (b) aged under 18 years excluded ; and if he will provide details of any estimates of the earnings of these excluded groups.
§ Mr. LeeIt is estimated that less than one tenth of employees are not represented in the new earnings survey sample. The majority of these are part-time employees with gross earnings below the PAYE threshold which was £45 per week at the time the sample for the 1987 survey was drawn. Information is not available on which to make estimates of the ages or earnings of employees not covered by the survey.