§ Mrs. RoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he intends to publish the paper on male earnings mobility to which he referred in his recent speech on welfare reform and Christian values at Southwark cathedral. [34938]
§ Mr. LilleyThe paper on male earnings mobility in the lifetime labour market database will be published today, and copies of the paper will be placed in the Library. The study follows a sample of men aged between 25 and 44 in 1978, over a 15-year period. It provides a valuable addition to our understanding of how people's work status and earnings change over time and confirms that an interpretation of statistics on the distribution of income and earnings that suggest those at the bottom have become worse off, is too simplistic.
The men in this study have not, in general, stayed in the same position for 15 years. Many have moved both into and out of work and the great majority of earners saw real increases in their earnings over the period.