I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated July 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the rate of average earnings growth was in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside and (c) the North East in each year since 1997. (286343)
ONS's primary indicator of average earnings growth is the Average Earnings Index. As this does not produce regional estimates, the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings has been used (ASHE). The ASHE, carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of information on the levels of earnings in the United Kingdom. It is a sample of all employees who are members of pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) schemes.
The sample sizes for more detailed geographies can be small and this affects the quality of the resulting estimates, which are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
ASHE results are available from 1997 and so annual growth rates are available from 1998. I attach a table showing the annual percentage change in median gross weekly earnings for the specified geographies for full-time employees in each year since 1998.
Jarrow parliamentary constituency South Tyneside local authority North East 1998 8.2 8.7 1.0 1999 3.2 -0.4 3.8 2000 0.3 7.1 4.9 2001 7.8 4.5 1.3 2002 -3.5 -7.2 3.3 2003 -7.2 1.8 1.1 2004 6.6 14.5 7.0 2005 0.9 -2.8 3.7 2006 4.0 3.8 3.7 2007 -0.4 -0.6 2.4 2008 4.8 6.7 4.0 1 Full-time employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence. Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics. 1998 to 2008.