§ Mr. HurstTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the(a) state pension for a single person and (b) average weekly earnings were in each year from 1974 to 2003. [184495]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Alan Hurst, dated 19 July 2004:
42WAs National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how much the (a) state pension for a single person and (b) the average weekly wage earnings were in each year from 1974 to 2003. (184495)Average earnings are estimated from the New Earnings Survey (NES) and are provided for full-time employees on adult rates of pay whose pay was unaffected by absence during the pay period, by their place of work. This is the standard definition used for NES tables. The NES does not collect data on the self employed and people who do unpaid work.The attached table shows the average gross weekly wage and basic pension for a single person from 1974 to 2003.The NES, carried out in April of each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in Great Britain. It is a one per cent sample of all employees who are members of payas-you-earn (PAYE) schemes, but because of its sampling frame, it has difficulty capturing data on people with very low pay. It is therefore likely to under-represent relatively low paid staff earning below the tax threshold.
Average gross weekly earnings, and the basic state pension for a single person, Great Britain, 1974 to 2003 £ Average gross weekly earnings Basic state pension 1974 41.7 10.0 1975 54.0 111.6 213.3 1976 64.2 15.3 1977 70.2 17.5 1978 79.1 19.5 1979 89.6 23.3 1980 110.2 27.2 1981 124.9 29.6 1982 136.5 32.9 1983 147.4 34.1 1984 159.3 35.8 1985 171.0 38.3 1986 184.7 38.7 1987 198.9 39.5 1988 218.4 41.2 1989 239.7 43.6 1990 263.1 46.9 1991 284.7 52.0 1992 304.8 54.2 1993 317.3 56.1 1994 325.7 57.6 1995 337.6 58.9 1996 351.6 61.2 1997 367.6 62.5 1998 385.8 64.7 1999 401.5 66.8 2000 419.7 67.5 2001 444.2 72.5 2002 464.7 75.5 2003 475.8 77.5 Notes: 1. Average gross weekly earnings are for adult full-time employees whose pay for the survey period was unaffected by absence. For the years 1974 to 1982 the estimates shown are for men aged 21 and over, and women aged 18 and over. 2. The basic state pension was increased in the following months 1974–July
1975–1 April and2 November
1976–1985 November
1986–July
1987–2003 April.
Source: ONS New Earnings Survey.