Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment which Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries have lost a higher percentage of manufacturing jobs than Wales and Scotland since 1979.
§ Mr. LeeInternational comparisons of labour market statistics should be treated with caution as it is difficult to obtain data for different countries on a consistent basis.
The available data do not cover all OECD countries and are limited to the period 1979 to 1985 and to employees in employment. On this evidence no OECD country taken as a whole showed a greater percentage decline in manufacturing employment than Scotland and Wales. However, as with the United Kingdom, some regions within other OECD countries will have shown greater losses in manufacturing employment than the average.