To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his assessment of the effect on the recruitment of skilled labour of the change in the real average earnings of manual workers in manufacturing industry compared with non-manuals employed in the rest of the private sector.

The real average earnings of non-manual employees in the private sector outside manufacturing have risen relative to those of manual employees in manufacturing over several years. This may have assisted the transfer of labour to sectors of the economy in which employment is growing more rapidly. There is no evidence that it has led to difficulties in the recruitment of skilled labour.