§ Mr. HaywardTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he has any plans to meet the chairman of the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service to discuss the present state of industrial relations in Britain.
§ Mr. NichollsMy right hon. Friend has no such plans.
International Standardised Unemployment Rates: Annual Averages 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 Belgium 3.0 5.0 6.4 7.4 7.9 8.2 8.8 10.8 | 12.6 12.1 12.1 11.3 11.2 10.9 Denmark n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. (9.5) (9.2) (7.6) (5.8) (5.9) France 2.8 4.0 4.4 4.9 5.2 5.9 6.3 7.4 8.1 8.3 9.7 10.2 10.4 10.8 Germany 1.6 3.6 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.2 3.0 4.4 6.1 8.0 | 7.1 7.2 6.5 6.5 Greece n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. (9.0) (9.3) (8.7) (8.2) (8.0) Ireland n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. (15.2) (17.0) (18.4) (18.5) 11.92) Italy 5.3 5.8 6.6 7.0 7.1 7.6 7.5 8.3 9.0 9.8 10.2 10.5 | (10.6) (11.0) Luxembourg n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. (3.6) (3.0) (2.9) (2.7) (3.1) Netherlands 2.7 5.2 5.5 5.3 5.3 5.4 6.0 8.5 11.4 | 12.0 11.8 10.6 9.9 9.6 Portugal n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 7.9 8.4 8.5 8.5 (6.8) Spain 2.6 3.6 4.6 5.2 6.9 8.5 11.2 13.9 15.8 17.2 20.0 21.4 21.0 20.1 United Kingdom 2.9 4.3 5.6 6.0 5.9 5.0 6.4 9.8 11.3 12.5 | 11.7 11.2 11.2 10.3 Note: OECD's standardised unemployment rates are used where available. For those EC countries for which no OECD standardised rates are available, similar harmonised rates compiled by the Statistical Office of European Communities (Eurostat) are shown in brackets. n.a.— No standardised or harmonised rates available. |— Break in series.