§ Mr. Peter BradleyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of workers in the rural economy who have benefited from the introduction of the statutory minimum wage, broken down by employment sector. [139024]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Peter Bradley, dated 30 November 2000:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on the number of workers in the rural economy who have benefited from the introduction of the national minimum wage (NW) (139024). I am replying in his absence.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has no estimates of employees in the rural economy that have benefited from the NMW. ONS does have estimates of people with pay less than NMW rates. These can be found on the National Statistics website, reference:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/themes/labour-market/nmw-lowpay-tables.asp
They are based on an improved methodology which uses data from both the New Earnings Survey (NES) and the Labour Force Survey (LFS).
The estimates cannot be used as a measure of non-compliance with NMW legislation because it is not possible from either the LFS or the NES to identify whether an individual is eligible for NMW rates. For example it is not possible to identify people such as apprentices and those undergoing accredited training who are exempt from the minimum wage or are entitled to lower rates.