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Treasury;Office for National Statistics

Answer

Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the movement was between 1 April 1975 and 1 April 1998 in (a) the index of average non-manual earnings and (b) the Retail Prices Index. [60507] Ms Hewitt: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply. Letter from Tim Holt to Mrs. Margaret Ewing, dated 19 November 1998: As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the movement in the index of average non-manual earnings and the Retail Prices Index. The ONS does not produce an index of non-manual earnings. Information on average earnings is available from the New Earnings Survey (NES). Regrettably, the NES cannot provide data on a consistent basis for non-manuals, due to changes in the definition of non-manuals and in the definition of adult rates of pay. Comparisons of non-manual adult earnings over the period should be treated with some caution. The NES shows that the average gross weekly earnings for full-time non-manual employees on adult rates, whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence, was £56.30 and £425.20 at April 1975 and 1998 respectively, an increase of 655 per cent. The percentage increase in all items retail prices index between 15th April 1975 and 21st April 1998, the relevant `index days', was 397 per cent.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

319 c857W; 60507

Session

1997-98

Subjects

Retail prices index Average earnings White-collar workers

Contains statistics

Yes