HC Deb 02 February 2001 vol 362 cc342-7W
Paddy Ashdown

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of (i) the number of people and (ii) the percentage of the workforce earning(a) less than £4 per hour, (b) £4 per hour and up to £4.50 per hour and (c) above £4.50 per hour and up to £5 per hour in (A) the UK,(B) the South West of England and (C) Yeovil constituency; [144614]

(2) how many people in (a) Somerset and (b) Yeovil constituency earn (i) £3.60 per hour, (ii) £3.61 to £3.80 per hour, (iii) £3.81 to £4.00 per hour and (iv) £4.01 to £4.50 per hour; what percentage of total employees this constitutes in each case; and if he will make a statement. [144611]

Miss Melanie Johnson

[holding answer 18 January 2001]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell to Paddy Ashdown, dated 2 February 2001: The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent questions on hourly earnings in the UK, South West and Yeovil Parliamentary Constituency (144611, 144614). I am replying in his absence. The following table shows the number and percentage of jobs paid within specified hourly pay bands for the UK in spring 2000. The estimates are based on an improved methodology using data from both the New Earnings Survey (NES) and the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Estimates based on this methodology are not available for regions, counties or constituencies.

Number of jobs in UK (thousands) Proportion of jobs in UK (percentage)
Less than £4.00 per hour 2,030 8.3
£4.00–£4.50 per hour 2,220 9.1
£4.51–£5.00 per hour 1,900 7.8

The improved methodology has been developed to overcome the deficiencies inherent in the two surveys, the NES and the LFS, in measuring low pay. It is possible to produce estimates for the proportion of employee jobs earning within the specified hourly pay bands for smaller areas from the NES. However, the NES underestimates the number of low pay jobs since it does not provide a comprehensive picture of the lower end of the earnings distribution.

Mr. Moore

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what percentage of full-time workers in(a) Scotland, (b) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (c) Great Britain earn gross pay less than (i) £279.21 per week, (ii) £257.73 per week, (iii) £193.30 per week and (iv) £140 per week, broken down by (1) male manual, (2) male non-manual, (3) all male workers, (4) female manual, (5) female non-manual, (6) all female workers, (7) all manual, (8) all non-manual and (9) for all workers; [145075]

(2) if he will list the average weekly gross earnings for full-time workers in (a) Scotland, (b) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (c) Great Britain for (i) all manual, (ii) all non-manual and (iii) all workers in the last 12 months. [145074]

Miss Melanie Johnson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Michael Moore, dated 2 February 2001: The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent questions on weekly earnings for workers in Scotland, the unitary authorities in Scotland and Great Britain (145075, 145074). I am replying in his absence. The New Earnings Survey (NES) can provide earnings data for small geographical areas. However, the NES has incomplete coverage of those on low pay because the sample is largely limited to people earning above the income tax threshold. The release of NES data is restricted to figures that are derived from a sufficiently large sample of employees, and have an acceptable level of accuracy. I have provided the available data for Scotland, the unitary authorities in Scotland and Great Britain in the attached tables, only where the samples are large enough and have an acceptable level of accuracy. These are based on the 2000 NES, the latest survey for which data are available.

Percentage of employees
Less than £279.21 Less than £257.73 Less than £193.30 Less than £140
Weekly earnings including overtime for full-time employees for Great Britain
Male
Non-manual 15.8 12.4 3.7 0.3
Manual 34.9 26.9 7.8 0.7
All 23.9 18.5 5.4 0.5
Female
Non-manual 39.3 32.3 10.4 0.9
Manual 79.0 71.9 40.5 6.9
All 45.4 38.4 15.1 1.8
All employees
Non-manual 26.7 21.6 6.8 0.6
Manual 42.6 34.8 13.5 1.8
All 31.8 25.9 9.0 1.0
Weekly earnings including overtime for full-time employees for Scotland
Male
Non-manual 17.9 14.9 4.5 0.3
Manual 37.1 28.7 8.9 1.0
All 26.7 21.2 6.5 0.6
Female
Non-manual 43.9 37.3 11.3 0.7
Manual 82.8 75.0 46.6 8.3
All 50.2 43.5 17.0 2.0
All employees
Non-manual 31.2 26.3 8.0 0.5
Manual 46.0 37.7 16.2 2.5
All 36.2 30.2 10.7 1.2
Weekly earnings including overtime for full-time employees for unitary authorities in Scotland
Male
Non-Manual
Aberdeen City 12.2 10.1 3.8 0.0
Dundee City 13.3 9.7 0.9 0.0
Percentage of employees
Less than £279.21 Less than £257.73 Less than £193.30 Less than £140
Edinburgh, City of 18.0 15.8 4.4 0.0
Fife 15.6 12.2 4.8 0.0
Glasgow City 20.1 17.2 5.5 0.2
North Lanarkshire 19.9 14.7 3.1 1.0
Renfrewshire 16.9 13.7 8.1 1.6
Male
Manual
Aberdeen City 31.8 24.2 8.3 0.0
Aberdeenshire 35.9 29.3 9.8 1.1
Dumfries and Galloway 42.0 30.9 7.4 1.2
Dundee City 44.2 36.8 10.5 1.1
East Ayrshire 37.5 28.6 10.7 0.0
Edinburgh,City of 43.5 38.2 13.8 1.2
Falkirk 25.0 21.4 4.8 1.2
Fife 35.8 29.0 7.3 0.5
Glasgow City 38.6 28.5 10.1 2.0
Highland 40.3 26.9 6.7 0.8
Inverclyde 31.8 25.0 4.5 0.0
North Ayrshire 36.8 28.1 12.3 0.0
North Lanarkshire 36.9 27.4 7.1 0.6
Perth and Kinross 41.5 29.2 4.6 1.5
Renfrewshire 28.7 25.5 10.6 1.1
South Ayrshire 32.3 26.2 4.6 1.5
South Lanarkshire 30.3 21.2 3.8 0.8
Stirling 33.3 27.8 5.6 0.0
West Lothian 30.3 22.0 7.3 1.8
Male
All
Aberdeen City 19.2 15.1 5.4 0.0
Aberdeenshire 24.8 20.5 6.2 0.6
Argyll and Bute 27.9 19.8 5.8 0.0
Dumfries and Galloway 32.8 24.8 5.8 0.7
Dundee City 27.4 22.1 5.3 0.5
East Ayrshire 28.4 21.1 6.4 0.0
Edinburgh, City of 25.7 22.6 7.2 0.4
Falkirk 23.4 17.7 4.0 0.6
Fife 27.1 21.8 6.2 0.3
Glasgow City 27.1 21.5 7.3 0.9
Highland 20.9 21.3 5.3 0.5
Midlothian 22.4 17.9 6.0 1.5
North Ayrshire 26.4 20.8 8.5 0.9
North Lanarkshire 27.9 20.6 5.0 0.8
Perth and Kinross 33.9 25.4 5.1 0.8
Renfrewshire 22.0 18.8 9.2 1.4
South Ayrshire 25.2 19.8 4.6 0.8
South Lanarkshire 24.9 18.1 4.2 0.4
West Lothian 25.6 20.0 6.7 1.1
Female
Non-manual
Aberdeen City 34.7 25.2 5.9 0.5
Angus 51.6 46.9 12.5 0.0
Dundee City 45.6 38.4 11.2 0.0
Edinburgh,City of 36.5 29.8 6.9 0.4
Fife 50.6 44.4 13.0 0.0
Glasgow City 41.8 34.7 9.5 0.3
Highland 49.2 43.8 18.5 0.0
North Ayrshire 47.2 39.6 17.0 0.0
North Lanarkshire 47.3 42.0 8.3 1.2
Percentage of employees
Less than £279.21 Less than £257.73 Less than £193.30 Less than £140
Perth and Kinross 46.7 41.3 15.2 0.0
South Lanarkshire 48.9 43.8 16.1 2.2
Female
Manual
Dundee City 82.1 71.4 32.1 3.6
Fife 90.0 81.7 45.0 8.3
Glasgow City 78.8 72.7 40.9 6.1
South Lanarkshire 82.5 75.0 40.0 0.0
Female
All
Aberdeen City 42.4 33.1 13.1 1.3
Angus 61.3 55.0 20.0 1.3
Scottish Borders, The 62.2 52.7 24.3 1.4
Dundee City 52.3 44.4 15.0 0.7
Edinburgh,City of 40.9 34.1 11.0 1.1
Fife 61.3 54.5 21.6 2.3
Glasgow City 45.3 38.2 12.4 0.8
Highland 53.1 48.3 20.7 0.7
Inverclyde 53.6 46.4 12.5 3.6
North Ayrshire 53.0 47.0 24.2 4.5
North Lanarkshire 52.0 47.0 13.6 2.5
Perth and Kinross 55.0 47.7 20.2 0.9
Renfrewshire 45.9 42.3 18.0 2.7
South Lanarkshire 56.5 50.8 21.5 1.7
All employees
Non-manual
Aberdeen City 22.5 17.0 4.8 0.2
Aberdeenshire 29.1 25.4 11.2 0.7
Angus 38.7 35.1 9.0 0.0
Dundee City 30.3 24.8 6.3 0.0
East Ayrshire 28.8 23.7 10.2 0.0
Edinburgh,City of 27.1 22.7 5.6 0.2
Falkirk 39.6 31.0 8.0 0.5
Fife 34.0 29.1 9.1 0.0
Glasgow City 31.6 26.4 7.6 0.2
Highland 36.7 31.7 12.4 0.0
Midlothian 21.4 17.9 1.8 1.8
North Ayrshire 31.4 26.5 10.8 1.0
North Lanarkshire 32.8 27.5 5.6 1.1
Perth and Kinross 38.6 33.8 11.7 0.0
Renfrewshire 28.1 24.4 11.5 2.3
South Ayrshire 29.1 25.2 7.1 0.8
South Lanarkshire 34.4 29.6 10.4 1.1
West Lothian 29.3 25.7 10.0 0.7
All employees
Manual
Aberdeen City 43.4 35.5 18.1 1.2
Aberdeenshire 52.0 43.3 22.8 5.5
Scottish Borders, The 68.3 58.7 27.0 1.6
Dumfries and Galloway 50.5 42.1 22.4 5.6
Dundee City 52.8 44.7 15.4 1.6
East Ayrshire 44.9 36.2 18.8 1.4
Edinburgh, City of 50.8 45.0 20.7 2.6
Falkirk 33.3 30.3 15.2 4.0
Fife 48.6 41.5 16.2 2.4
Glasgow City 44.9 35.4 15.0 2.6
Highland 45.5 33.6 10.4 1.5
Percentage of employees
Less than £279.21 Less than £257.73 Less than £193.30 Less than £140
Inverclyde 37.3 30.5 10.2 3.4
North Ayrshire 44.3 37.1 20.0 4.3
North Lanarkshire 43.1 34.5 12.7 2.0
Perth and Kinross 53.7 40.2 13.4 2.4
Renfrewshire 33.9 31.3 13.4 0.9
South Ayrshire 40.8 35.5 10.5 2.6
South Lanarkshire 42.4 33.7 12.2 0.6
Stirling 47.8 43.5 17.4 4.3
West Lothian 36.8 27.8 12.8 1.5
All employees
All
Aberdeen City 28.2 22.1 8.4 0.5
Aberdeenshire 40.2 34.1 16.9 3.1
Angus 46.2 40.4 14.0 1.2
Argyll and Bute 38.1 29.1 11.2 1.5
Scottish Borders, The 50.9 43.4 16.8 0.6
Dumfries and Galloway 44.5 38.6 16.8 3.2
Dundee City 38.0 31.6 9.4 0.6
East Ayrshire 34.8 28.3 13.4 0.5
East Lothian 29.3 25.3 9.3 2.7
Edinburgh, City of 32.2 27.6 8.9 0.7
Falkirk 37.4 30.8 10.5 1.7
Fife 40.6 34.7 12.3 1.1
Glasgow City 35.0 28.7 9.5 0.9
Highland 40.1 32.4 11.6 0.6
Inverclyde 37.7 32.6 9.4 1.4
Midlothian 28.9 24.7 7.2 2.1
North Ayrshire 36.6 30.8 14.5 2.3
North Lanarkshire 36.4 30.0 8.1 1.4
Perth and Kinross 44.1 36.1 12.3 0.9
Renfrewshire 30.1 26.7 12.2 1.8
South Ayrshire 33.5 29.1 8.4 1.5
South Lanarkshire 37.6 31.2 11.1 0.9
West Lothian 33.0 26.7 11.4 1.1
Average Earnings (£)
Average weekly gross earnings for full-time employees for Great Britain
All employees
Non-Manual 452.39
Manual 323.61
All 410.62
Average weekly gross earnings for full-time employees for Scotland
All employees
Non-manual 414.22
Manual 312.37
All 379.83
Average weekly gross earnings for full-time employees for unitary authorities in Scotland
All employees
Non-manual
Aberdeen City 481.88
Aberdeenshire 444.22
Angus 375.65
Average Earnings (£)
Dundee City 398.62
East Ayrshire 407.73
Edinburgh, City of 433.22
Falkirk 391.83
Fife 383.05
Glasgow City 419.57
Highland 369.49
Midlothian 416.61
North Ayrshire 374.75
North Lanarkshire 403.11
Perth and Kinross 348.07
Renfrewshire 418.48
South Ayrshire 416.62
South Lanarkshire 415.73
West Lothian 436.34
Manual
Aberdeen City 348.52
Aberdeenshire 294.10
Scottish Borders, The 260.52
Dumfries and Galloway 274.54
Dundee City 291.64
East Ayrshire 292.17
Edinburgh, City of 300.96
Falkirk 355.44
Fife 298.02
Glasgow City 311.47
Highland 322.82
Inverclyde 316.04
North Ayrshire 305.86
North Lanarkshire 318.23
Perth and Kinross 305.81
Renfrewshire 353.30
South Ayrshire 335.40
South Lanarkshire 337.68
Stirling 279.38
West Lothian 328.88
All
Aberdeen City 445.35
Aberdeenshire 371.18
Angus 342.05
Argyll and Bute 378.81
Scottish Borders, The 326.33
Dumfries and Galloway 330.36
Dundee City 362.17
East Ayrshire 365.09
East Lothian 361.85
Edinburgh, City of 404.64
Falkirk 379.23
Fife 344.77
Glasgow City 391.84
Highland 351.72
Inverclyde 356.85
Midlothian 375.60
North Ayrshire 346.72
North Lanarkshire 373.09
Perth and Kinross 332.80
Renfrewshire 396.29
South Ayrshire 386.21
South Lanarkshire 385.36
West Lothian 383.99