HC Deb 08 March 2000 vol 345 cc771-2W
Mr. Matthew Taylor

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many earners in the UK earn less than £60 per week; how many households in the UK contain an earner who earns less than £60 per week; and what changes there have been in these numbers since 1980. [113469]

Miss Melanie Johnson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Matthew Taylor, dated 8 March 2000: As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question concerning people earning less than £60 per week. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the ONS's major source of labour market data on individuals. It can provide information on the earnings of employees and the number and proportion of employees earning below £60. However, LFS estimates on earnings are only available from winter (December to February) 1992/3. Estimates for the autumn (September to November) quarters of 1993, 1997 and 1999 are given in the table below. The figures are for Great Britain and are not seasonally adjusted.

Employees with gross weekly earnings of less than £60

Great Britain, autumn 1993, 1997 and 1999, not seasonally

adjusted

Autumn 000s
1993 2,466
1997 2,254
1999 1,849

Source:

ONS, Labour Force Survey

The LFS has no information available on the number of households containing an earner who earns less than £60 per week. Estimates from the Family Resources Survey for the period 1997–98 covering Great Britain show that the ratio between the number of households, where at least one earner earns less than £60 a week, and the number of individuals earning less than £60 a week is 96 per cent.

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