asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will circulate in the Official Report a table showing for each year since 1970 and for the latest quarter (a) employers' national insurance contributions as a percentage of manufacturing labour costs, (b) average weekly earnings in manufacturing as a percentage of their level in 1970 and (c) unit labour costs in manufacturing as a percentage of their level in 1970.

The following table gives indices of average earnings and unit labour costs in all manufacturing industries with the year 1970 = 100.

	MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
		Index of average earnings—all employees—Great Britain—seasonally adjusted	Index of labour costs per unit of output—United Kingdom*
1971	…	111·2†	109·9
1972	…	125·5‡	115·0
1973	…	141·6	121·6
1974	…	165·9	151·1
1975	…	209·2	197·8
1976	…	243·7	226·3
1977	…	268·8	253·8
1978	…	308·1	288·0
1979:	…
First quarter	…	334·0	Not available
Second quarter	…	352·6
Third quarter	…	356·1§
* Based on census of production.
†As industrial activity was severely disrupted by restricted electricity supplies, the monthly survey on which these figures are based was not carried out in February 1972. This figure is an average of the 11 months excluding February.
‡This figure reflects temporary reductions in earnings while three-day working and other restrictions were in operation in January and February.
§The figures reflect abnormally low earnings due to the effects of the national dispute in the engineering industries.

Estimates of employers' national insurance contributions as a percentage of manufacturing labour costs are available from the 1973 and 1975 surveys of labour costs. These indicate that employers' statutory national insurance contributions made up about 5 per cent. of total labour costs in manufacturing industries in Great Britain in 1973 and about 6½per cent. in 1975. Taking account of the national insurance surcharges made in 1977 and 1978, the current figure is probably just over 10 per cent.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing (a) unit labour costs in manufacturing in the principal industrial countries in terms of dollars and as a percentage of their level in 1970 and (b) earnings in manufacturing in dollar terms as a percentage of their level in 1970.

A general measure of the absolute level of unit labour costs is not available. However, trends in unit labour costs can be measured by use of index numbers. The available figures for principal industrial countries are given in the following table both in terms of national currencies and adjusted for relative movements in exchange rates against the dollar.

WAGES AND SALARIES PER UNIT OF OUTPUT IN MANUFACTURING SECOND QUARTER 1979* AS A PERCENTAGE OF 1970 LEVEL BASED ON:
		(i)	(ii)
		National currencies	US dollars
United Kingdom	…	297	248
Germany (FR)†	…	149	296
Japan‡	…	193	377
United States	…	155	155
* Seasonally adjusted
†Including mining
‡Whole economy

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for the United Kingdom for each year since 1967 and for the latest quarter (a) weekly earnings in manufacturing and the whole economy as a percentage of their levels in 1967 and the increase on the preceding year and (b) unit labour costs in manufacturing and the whole economy as a percentage of their levels in 1967 and the increase on the preceding year.

The following table gives the available information: