§ Mr. ÖpikTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of people aged(a) 21 years and under and (b) 25 years and under who earn less than (i) £3.50 per hour and (ii) £4 per hour; what percentage of the working population this represents; and if he will make a statement. [38966]
§ Mrs. Liddell[holding answer 20 April 1998]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Lembit Opik, dated 22 April 1998:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on hourly earnings.This information is shown in the attached table using estimates available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS).625WWork is being undertaken to assess the quality of earnings data from the LFS and the New Earnings Survey (NES). Current indications are that the LFS provides the more reliable estimates of workers on low pay, but nevertheless tends to overestimate the proportion of low paid workers. The figures in the table should therefore be taken as upper estimates of the proportions. Details of this assessment of the quality of earnings data are expected to be published in the May issue of Labour Market Trends, copies of which will be available from the House of Commons Library.
Employees aged 16–21 and 16–25 earning less than £3.50 and £4.00 per hour. United Kingdom, Autumn 1997, not seasonally adjusted Aged 16–21 Aged 16–25 Earning under £3.50 per hour Total (thousands) 994 1,278 As % of all employees in age group 47.3 30.5 As % of all working age1 employees 4.5 5.8 Earning under £4.00 per hour Total (thousands) 1,314 1,793 As % of all employees in age group 62.5 42.8 As % of all working age1 employees 5.9 8.1 1Men aged 16–64 and women aged 16–59 Source:
Labour Force Survey, ONS