HC Deb 14 March 1994 vol 239 c471W
Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of the change in competitiveness of United Kingdom manufacturing industry relative to France.

Mr. Sainsbury

[holding answer 9 March 1994]: Between 1973 and 1979, manufacturing productivity and unit wage costs for the United Kingdom and France were as follows:

Annual average growth 1973–79
Per cent.
United Kingdom France
Manufacturing production -0.96 1.54
Manufacturing productivity 0.6 3.7
Manufacturing unit wage costs 18.0 11.2

Source:OECD Main Economic Indicators.

During the last economic cycle, 1979 to 1990, however, manufacturing output and productivity grew more rapidly in the United Kingdom than in France. More recently, the latest available quarterly figures shows that manufacturing unit wage costs have risen, since the same period last year, by 1 per cent. in the United Kingdom and 6 per cent. in France.