asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the percentage change on the seasonally adjusted levels of employment, based on national definitions in each member of the European Community, the United States of America, Japan and Canada, since March 1974 to the latest available common date.
, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 18 January 1979; Vol. 960, col. 849], gave the following information:The available data are given in the following tables. Owing to differences in national definitions and methods of compilation, the figures are not fully comparable.
| PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED CIVILIAN EMPLOYMENT FROM FIRST QUARTER 1974 TO SECOND QUARTER 1978 | |
| Percentage change | |
| United Kingdom | -0·2* |
| Germany (FR) | -5·8 |
| United States of America | +9·7 |
| Japan (1) | +3·0 |
| Canada | +10·6 |
| Notes * Provisional | |
| (1) Including armed forces | |
| PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN CIVILIAN EMPLOYMENT 1974–1977 | |
| (Annual averages unless otherwise stated) | |
| Percentage change | |
| United Kingdom | -0·8* |
| Germany (FR) | -4·7 |
| France | -1·0 |
| Italy | +2·2 |
| Netherlands | -0·5 |
| Belgium | -2·4 (Mid-year) |
| Luxembourg | -2·0 |
| Irish Republic | -3·2 (April) |
| Denmark | +2·5 (October) |
| United states of America | +5·4 |
| Japan (1) | +2·0 |
| Canada | +6·2 |
| Notes * Provisional | |
| (1) Including armed forces | |
asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the average gross hourly earnings in manufacturing industry and the economy as a whole, at the latest available comparable date and expressed in terms of £ sterling, in each member State of the EEC, Japan, the United States of America and Canada.
, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 18 January 1979; Vol. 960, col. 849], gave the following information:The following table gives latest available data which relate to manual workers in manufacturing and certain other production industries in October 1977.Owing to differences in national definitions and methods of compilation, these figures are not strictly comparable. In addition, comparisons are not meaningful unless account is taken of differences in taxation and social benefits and differences in internal purchasing power which are not reflected by market exchange rates.
| AVERAGE GROSS HOURLY EARNINGS OF MANUAL WORKERS—OCTOBER 1977 | ||
| Manufacturing industries | Manufacturing, mining quarrying and construction | |
| £ sterling* | £ sterling* | |
| United Kingdom | 1·53 | 1·54 |
| Germany (FR) | 2·80 | 2·82 |
| France | 1·82 | 1·83 |
| Italy | · · | · · |
| Netherlands | 2·74 | 2·81 |
| Belgium | 2·78 | 2·85 |
| Luxembourg | 3·27 | 3·17 |
| Irish Republic† | 1·48 | 1·49‡ |
| Denmark | 3·49 | 3·49‡ |
| Japan | · · | · · |
| USA | 3·29 | 3·04§ |
| Canada | 3·23≑ | · · |
| Notes: | ||
| · · Not available | ||
| * Based on average market exchange rates of October 1977. | ||
| † September 1977. | ||
| ‡ Excluding construction. | ||
| § Including electricity, gas and water, commerce, transport, financing etc. and services. | ||
| ║ Based on market exchange rates at 31 October 1977 | ||