asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are currently employed in all forms of public service, civil and military; and how many of such people are receiving levels of pay which fail to exceed by at least 50 per cent. the minimum level required to satisfy the basic needs of an employee and his family.
The latest available public sector estimates for June 1976, published in the December 1977 issue of Economic Trends, are 6,978,000 in civil employment and 336,000 in the Armed Forces. These totals which include part time employees, relate to the United Kingdom and the whole of the public sector, as defined in that published article.Estimates, based on the New Earnings Survey, of the distribution of earnings as public sector employees are limited to those for April up to 1977 which were published in the December 1977 issue of the
Department of Employment Gazette. They do not cover Northern Ireland, young persons, part-time workers, or full-time workers whose pay for the survey reference period was affected by absence; nor do they distinguish married employees with families. Consequently, even if assumptions were made about minimum earnings levels required to satisfy basic needs, estimates of the kind requested could not be derived from the available information.