Wages Councils (Hansard, 18 July 1989)

§ 28. Mr. McAvoy
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of employees in the clothing manufacturing industry are paid at the wages council minima.

§ 105. Mr. Eastham
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of employees in the licensed non-residential industry are paid at wages council minima.

§ 106. Mr. Nigel Griffiths
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of employees in the retail food industry are paid at wages council minima.

§ 118. Mr. Boyes
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of employees in the retail food industry are paid at wages council minima.

§ Mr. Nicholls
No estimates are made of the proportion of workers paid on the wages council minimum in individual trades. Recent estimates for the wages council system as a whole suggest that a substantial proportion of workers—probably as many as two thirds are paid more than minimum.

§ 67. Mr. Lofthouse
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment he has made of the impact that the proposed abolition of wages councils will have on pay rates in Yorkshire and Humberside.

§ Mr. Nicholls
No such assessment has been made. However, the removal of wages councils minima would enable employers to offer, and workers to accept, jobs at rates which would previously have been unlawful. It is not possible to measure this greater flexibility on pay levels, but it is unlikely that there would be any general reduction in the earnings of workers in wages council trades.