asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the average weekly earnings of full-time male employees and the number of persons registered as unemployed in the area covered by each metropolitan district council and non-metropolitan county council in England and Wales, for the most recent month figures are available.

Estimates of average gross weekly earnings in April 1974 of full-time men aged 21 and over employed in each county of England and Wales and each borough of Greater London in which sample sizes were large enough to give reliable results were published in my Department's Gazette for January 1975, table C pages 31 and 32. Differences in average earnings between counties include the effect of different industrial and occupational structures. They do not therefore give a precise indication of differences in earnings for comparable work. Statistics of the numbers unemployed are compiled for employment office areas. The following table shows the figures for June 1975 added together to correspond as closely as possible with the county boundaries. I regret that statistics for metropolitan districts are not available.