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Treasury;Office for National Statistics

Answer

Mr. Moore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of full-time workers in (a) Scotland, (b) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (c) the United Kingdom have gross hourly earnings (i) including and (ii) excluding overtime below (A) £7.44, (B) £5.59 and (C) £4.50, broken down by (1) male, (2) female and (3) all workers. [198284] Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply. Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Michael Moore, dated 17 November 2004: As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many and what proportion of full-time workers in (a) Scotland, (b) each of the unitary authority areas in Scotland and (c) the United Kingdom, have gross hourly earnings (i) including and (ii) excluding overtime below (A) 7.44, (B) 5.59 and (C) 4.50, broken down by (1) male, (2) female and (3) all workers . (198284) Average earnings are estimated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and are provided for full-time employees on adult rates of pay whose pay was unaffected by absence during the pay period, by their place of work. This is the standard definition used for Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings tables. The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings does not collect data on the self employed and people who do unpaid work. I am placing in the House of Commons Library, tables showing the counts and proportion of full-time workers for the United Kingdom, Scotland and Scottish local authorities earning below the stated hourly pay bands. The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, carried out in April of each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. It is a one per cent. sample of all employees who are members of pay-as-you-earn schemes, but because of its sampling frame, it has difficulty capturing data on people with very low pay. It is therefore likely to under-represent relatively low paid staff earning below the tax threshold. The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings publication criteria ensures that all estimates are undisclosive. A number of estimates have been removed from the published tables for these reasons.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

198284; 426 c1502-3W;426 c1506-7W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Low incomes Scotland Average earnings

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk