§ Mr. Chris SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give, for each year from 1974, an index of the rise in unit labour costs in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France, the Federal Republic of Germany and Japan(a) in local currency and (b) adjusted for changes in relative exchange rates.
Mr. JacksonStatistics on unit labour costs in the whole economy are not available. International com-parisons of unit labour costs in manufacturing industries are made periodically by the international monetary fund. The latest available data from this source are set out in the tables:
TABLE 1: Manufacturing Unit Labour Costs in Local Currency United Kingdom United States of America France Federal Republic of Germany Japan Index 1985 = 100 1974 30.7 59.3 35.3 68.5 89.0 1975 41.7 63.5 42.9 73.1 102.1 1976 46.2 65.6 46.5 73.8 102.3 1977 51.9 69.4 49.1 78.0 106.4 1978 59.6 74.5 53.0 81.5 105.0 1979 70.3 82.0 57.4 83.7 105.2 1980 85.9 91.6 65.6 90.2 104.7 1981 93.5 98.2 73.8 94.5 108.6 1982 96.6 104.3 82.7 97.7 107.7 1983 95.3 101.7 87.9 97.0 105.3 1984 96.5 99.7 94.2 98.1 101.2 1985 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 1986 103.8 100.8 101.9 105.0 103.3 1987 103.8 99.5 101.8 111.5 98.0 1988 106.1 100.8 100.0 111.0 94.5 1989 110.7 101.6 101.3 112.2 95.3
TABLE 2: Manufacturing Unit Labour Costs Adjusted for Changes in Relative Exchange Rates. United Kingdom United States of America France Federal Republic of Germany Japan Index 1985 = 100 1974 78.7 82.8 91.8 107.3 110.6 1975 84.4 74.4 104.8 101.0 106.9 1976 76.8 78.2 104.7 102.1 107.4 1977 76.5 76.0 97.3 108.3 114.7 1978 83.0 68.9 97.2 111.9 128.0 1979 98.6 68.4 99.2 112.2 109.2 1980 122.0 69.2 103.9 110.2 93.0 1981 124.2 79.3 99.2 100.0 102.9 1982 114.9 89.3 96.7 101.7 91.0 1983 103.7 92.5 94.4 103.1 98.9 1984 99.6 98.9 96.0 101.6 101.3 1985 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 1986 92.9 77.2 102.5 112.5 125.1 1987 90.4 65.8 101.4 126.8 125.5 1988 98.4 63.2 97.2 125.8 133.1 1989 97.9 65.8 94.9 123.0 127.0 Source: International Monetary Fund