HC Deb 04 November 1992 vol 213 cc298-300W
Mr. Peter Bottomley

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the lowest legal rates of pay for adults in wages councils covering more than 10,000 people and what are the lowest agreed rates of pay in(a) the civil service, (b) in local government service, (c) in nationalised industries and (d) in military service.

Mr. McLoughlin

The lowest legal rates of pay in wages councils covering more than 10,000 people are shown in the table:

£ per hour
Clothing manufacture 2.6375
General waste materials reclamation 2.60
Hairdressing undertakings 2.78
Laundry 2.91
Licensed non-residential 2.91
Licenced residential and licensed restaurant 2.92
Retail food and allied trades 3.08
Retail trades non-food 3.06
Toy manufacturing 2.63
Unlicensed place of refreshment 2.92

An administrative assistant in the civil service on adult rates is paid £6,483 a year. In the military service, a private committed to less than six years service is paid £7,774.50 a year.

The lowest agreed rates of pay in local government and nationalised industries is not readily available. There is no agreement covering all local authorities and each nationalised industry negotiates its own agreements.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to her answer of 29 October,Official Report, column 825, if she will list the studies or other evidence that illustrate or quantify the link asserted between pay and jobs at statutory minimum rates.

Mr. McLoughlin

Among the studies considered are the following:

  1. (i) United Kingdom studies on the link between pay and jobs at national level.
    • —Her Majesty's Treasury, (1985). "The relationship between employment and wages". London: HMSO. [This is the most comprehensive survey of the evidence on the link between pay and jobs at national level].
    • —Wells, W. (1983)."The relative pay and employment of young people", Department of Employment research paper No. 42.
  2. (ii) United Kingdom studies on the employment effects of proposals for a national minimum wage.
    • —Bazen, S. (1990). "On the employment effects of introducing a National Minimum Wage in the UK", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 1990.
    • —Dennison, S. R. and Forrest, D. (1984). "Low pay or no pay; a review of the theory and practice of minimum wage laws" Institute of Economic Affairs, Hobart paper No. 101.
    • —Gregg, P. (1992). "National minimum wage", in the National Institute Economic Review, February 1992.
    • —Minford, P. (1989). "The effects in the UK of EEC wage proposals in the social charter", in the Liverpool Quarterly Economic Bulletin, December 1989.
    • —UBS Phillips and Drew (1991). Economic Briefing, June 1991.
  3. (iii) Studies of the employment effects of the wages boards and councils.
    • —Canning, D. and Tarling, R. (1985). "A report on the Department of Employment's study 'Wages floors in the clothing industry 1950–1981", Department of Applied Economics, Cambridge, 1985.
    • —Craig, C. and Wilkinson, F. (1986). "Pay and employment in four retail trades", Department of Employment research paper No. 51.
    • —Kaufman, R. (1989): "The effects on statutory minimum rates of pay on employment in Great Britain", Economic Journal, December 1989.
    • —Lund, P., Morris, T., Temple, J. and Watson, J. (1982). "Wages and employment in agriculture 1960–1980", GES working paper No. 52.
    • —Machin, S. and Manning, A. (1992). "Minimum wages, wage dispersion and employment: evidence from the UK wages councils", LSE working paper No. 221.
    • —Morgan, P., Paterson, D. and Barrie. R. (1986). "Wage floors in the clothing industry 1950–81", Department of Employment research paper No. 52.
    • —Neuburger, H. (1984). "From the dole queue to the sweatshop", London: Low Pay Unit.
  4. (iv) Studies on the employment effects of the United States minimum wage.
    • —Brown, C., Gilroy, C., Kohen, A. (1982). "The effect of the minimum wage on employment and unemployment." Journal of Economic Literature, vol.XX. [This contains a survey of the US evidence]
      • 300
    • —Card, D. (1991). "Do minimum wages reduce employment? A case study of California, 1987–89." NBER working paper No. 3710.
    • —Castillo Freeman, A and Freeman, R.B. (1991). "Minimum Wages in Puerto Rico." NBER working paper No. 3759.
    • —Katz, L, and Krueger, A. (1991). "The effect of the new minimum wage law in a low wage labour market." Princeton university working paper No. 280.
    • —Neumark, D, and Wascher, W. (1991). "Evidence on employment effects of minimum wages and subminimum wage provisions from panel data on state minimum wage laws". NBER working paper No. 3859.
    • Report of the Minimum Wage Study Commission (1981), Vol. 1. [This report contains an assessment of the employment effects of the federal minimum based on a large number of studies]
    • —Walsh, K. (1991). "A comparative review of minimum wage systems" in "Minimum Wage-An analysis of the Issues". Institute for Personnel Management.
  5. (v) References to International evidence of the employment effects of minimum wage legislation in work conducted by the ILO and the OECD.
    • —ILO (1992). "Minimum wages, wage fixing machinery, application and supervision", International Labour Office.
    • —OECD (1991), "1990–91 OECD Economic Surveys, France".
    • —OECD (1989), "1988–89 Economic Surveys, Netherlands".
    • .OECD (1990), "Labour market policies for the 1990s".
    • —Starr, G. (1981). "Minimum wage fixing", International Labour Office.
  6. (vi) Other articles and correspondence concerning the debate about the employment effects of the wages councils. For example, a recent Fabian Society pamphlet by Fred Bayliss; and various publications by the Low Pay Unit.

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