§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what account was taken in preparation of the Government's White Paper on competitiveness (Cm 2563) of the paper by Professor Beenstock et al on the United Kingdom economic recovery in the 1930s published in Bank of England Panel Paper No. 23; and if he will publish a table giving figures comparable to their Chart 42 for trade union membership as a percentage of employees in employment of the period since 1964.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythToday's circumstances are very different from those of the 1930s. The trend in trade union membership from 1964 to 1992 is presented in the following table:
Trade union membership as a percentage of employees in employment in the United Kingdom 1964–1992 Year Per cent. 1964 45 1965 45 1966 44 1967 45 1968 45 1969 46 1970 50 1971 50 1972 51 1973 51 1974 52 11975 54 11975 53 1976 55 21977 57 21978 57 1979 57 1980 58 1981 56 1982 55 1983 53 1984 51 1985 50 1986 49 1987 48 1988 46 1989 44 1990 44 1991 43 1992 42 Note:
Union membership totals are the end of year figures.
1Discontinuity:—Thirty-one organisations previously regarded as trade unions are excluded from 1975 onwards because they failed to satisfy the statutory definition of a trade union in the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act, 1974. To help provide a link in the series, two sets of figures are given for 1975. The first gives the figures on the original basis for comparison with earlier years, while the second gives estimates for comparison with later years.
2The employees in employment estimates are at June of each year between 1964 and 1977, and at December of each year between 1978 and 1992.