asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for the United Kingdom, the USA, Japan and Germany the percentage increase in wages in industry as a percentage of the increase in unit costs since March 1983 before and after conversion to the pound sterling at the relevant rates of exchange.

The available information for manufacturing industries is given in the following table. Fully comparable international data on earnings and unit wage costs (wages and salaries per unit of output) are not available, and so comparisons should be treated with caution.

This will depend upon the progress made in discussions between officials of the member states, which are continuing, and upon consideration of the outcome of the those discussions by the Council of Labour and Social Affairs Ministers in June.