asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the lastest figures he has comparing the average earnings of industrial workers in Scotland with those in England and Wales.

The latest date for which information is available is October 1977. Following is the information:

AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS—MANUAL WORKERS
	All manufacturing industries
	Men aged 21 years and over	Women aged 18 years and over
	£	£
Scotland	73·49	45·80
England	73·58	44·38
Wales	75·21	45·22
England and Wales combined	73·67	44·42

Differences in average earnings between regions include the effects of different industrial and occupational structures; they do not, therefore, give a precise indication of differences in earnings for comparable work.