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TREASURY

Economic Activity Rate

Mr. Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the economic activity rate was among (a) men aged 50 to 54, (b) men aged 55 to 59, (c) men aged 60 to 64, (d) men aged 65 to 69, (e) men aged 70 and over, (f) women aged 50 to 54, (g) women aged 55 to 59, (h) women aged 60 to 64, (i) women aged 65 to 69 and

2 Feb 2001 : Column: 341W

(j) women aged 70 years and over in each of the four quarters for which he has the most recent data (i) in the UK and (ii) in each of the parliamentary constituencies in Wirral. [146892]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 23 January 2001]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Frank Field, dated 2 February 2001:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the economic activity rate in the UK and the Wirral for men and women in various age groups (146892).

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the main source of labour market data on individuals used by National Statistics. Information from the LFS on economic activity rates can be derived on a quarterly basis for the UK and on an annual basis for parliamentary constituencies. The most recent data has been given for both. Economic activity rates in the Wirral are not available for the age groups requested. However, they are available for people aged 16 and over and these have been given.

The tables overleaf show the economic activity rates (i) in the UK for men and women in various age groups from winter (December-February) 1999/2000 to autumn (September-November) 2000 and (ii) in the Wirral from March 1999 to February 2000.

According to the LFS definition, the economically active are people aged 16 and over who are either in employment or International Labour Organisation unemployed. The activity rate is those economically active as a percentage of all persons 16 and over.

Activity rates by age and sex for people aged 50 and over; UK; winter 1999-2000 to autumn 2000; not seasonally adjusted--United KingdomPercentage

	All persons	Men	Women
Winter 1999-2000
All aged 50 and over	36.0	44.4	28.9
50-54	79.2	86.0	72.4
55-59	65.6	74.5	56.9
60-64	37.4	49.2	26.1
65-69	11.4	13.9	9.1
70 and over	2.9	4.7	1.7
Spring 2000
All aged 50 and over	36.3	44.8	29.0
50-54	79.5	86.2	72.7
55-59	66.1	74.8	57.6
60-64	37.8	50.3	25.9
65-69	11.6	14.9	8.5
70 and over	2.7	4.5	1.6
Summer 2000
All aged 50 and over	36.4	44.7	29.2
50-54	79.2	86.0	72.5
55-59	66.3	74.6	58.2
60-64	38.4	51.1	26.2
65-69	11.4	14.4	8.7
70 and over	2.7	4.3	1.6
Autumn 2000
All aged 50 and over	36.4	44.8	29.3
50-54	79.1	85.8	72.4
55-59	66.7	74.9	58.6
60-64	38.4	50.9	26.5
65-69	11.4	14.8	8.4
70 and over	2.6	4.1	1.5

Source:

ONS Labour Force Survey

2 Feb 2001 : Column: 342W

Activity rates in the Wirral and each of its four parliamentary constituencies; for all aged 16+; March 1999-February 2000; not seasonally adjusted

	Percentage
	All aged 16+
Wirral	54
Birkenhead	54.8
Wallasey	52.5
Wirral South	58.6
Wirral West	50.3

Source:

ONS Labour Force Survey

Earnings Statistics

Paddy Ashdown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of (i) the number of people and (ii) the percentage of the workforce earning (a) less than £4 per hour, (b) £4 per hour and up to £4.50 per hour and (c) above £4.50 per hour and up to £5 per hour in (A) the UK, (B) the South West of England and (C) Yeovil constituency; [144614]

(2) how many people in (a) Somerset and (b) Yeovil constituency earn (i) £3.60 per hour, (ii) £3.61 to £3.80 per hour, (iii) £3.81 to £4.00 per hour and (iv) £4.01 to £4.50 per hour; what percentage of total employees this constitutes in each case; and if he will make a statement. [144611]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 18 January 2001]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell to Paddy Ashdown, dated 2 February 2001:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent questions on hourly earnings in the UK, South West and Yeovil Parliamentary Constituency (144611, 144614). I am replying in his absence.

The following table shows the number and percentage of jobs paid within specified hourly pay bands for the UK in spring 2000. The estimates are based on an improved methodology using data from both the New Earnings Survey (NES) and the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Estimates based on this methodology are not available for regions, counties or constituencies.

	Number of jobs in UK (thousands)	Proportion of jobs in UK (percentage)
Less than £4.00 per hour	2,030	8.3
£4.00-£4.50 per hour	2,220	9.1
£4.51-£5.00 per hour	1,900	7.8

The improved methodology has been developed to overcome the deficiencies inherent in the two surveys, the NES and the LFS, in measuring low pay. It is possible to produce estimates for the proportion of employee jobs earning within the specified hourly pay bands for smaller areas from the NES. However, the NES underestimates the number of low pay jobs since it does not provide a comprehensive picture of the lower end of the earnings distribution.

Mr. Moore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what percentage of full-time workers in (a) Scotland, (b) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (c) Great Britain earn gross pay less than (i) £279.21 per week, (ii) £257.73 per week, (iii) £193.30 per week

2 Feb 2001 : Column: 343W

and (iv) £140 per week, broken down by (1) male manual, (2) male non-manual, (3) all male workers, (4) female manual, (5) female non-manual, (6) all female workers, (7) all manual, (8) all non-manual and (9) for all workers; [145075]

(2) if he will list the average weekly gross earnings for full-time workers in (a) Scotland, (b) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (c) Great Britain for (i) all manual, (ii) all non-manual and (iii) all workers in the last 12 months. [145074]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Michael Moore, dated 2 February 2001:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent questions on weekly earnings for workers in Scotland, the unitary authorities in Scotland and Great Britain (145075, 145074). I am replying in his absence.

The New Earnings Survey (NES) can provide earnings data for small geographical areas. However, the NES has incomplete coverage of those on low pay because the sample is largely limited to people earning above the income tax threshold. The release of NES data is restricted to figures that are derived from a sufficiently large sample of employees, and have an acceptable level of accuracy. I have provided the available data for Scotland, the unitary authorities in Scotland and Great Britain in the attached tables, only where the samples are large enough and have an acceptable level of accuracy. These are based on the 2000 NES, the latest survey for which data are available.

Percentage of employees

	Less than £279.21	Less than £257.73	Less than £193.30	Less than £140
	Weekly earnings including overtime for full-time employees for Great Britain
Male
Non-manual	15.8	12.4	3.7	0.3
Manual	34.9	26.9	7.8	0.7
All	23.9	18.5	5.4	0.5
Female
Non-manual	39.3	32.3	10.4	0.9
Manual	79.0	71.9	40.5	6.9
All	45.4	38.4	15.1	1.8
All employees
Non-manual	26.7	21.6	6.8	0.6
Manual	42.6	34.8	13.5	1.8
All	31.8	25.9	9.0	1.0
	Weekly earnings including overtime for full-time employees for Scotland
Male
Non-manual	17.9	14.9	4.5	0.3
Manual	37.1	28.7	8.9	1.0
All	26.7	21.2	6.5	0.6
Female
Non-manual	43.9	37.3	11.3	0.7
Manual	82.8	75.0	46.6	8.3
All	50.2	43.5	17.0	2.0
All employees
Non-manual	31.2	26.3	8.0	0.5
Manual	46.0	37.7	16.2	2.5
All	36.2	30.2	10.7	1.2
	Weekly earnings including overtime for full-time employees for unitary authorities in Scotland
Male
Non-Manual
Aberdeen City	12.2	10.1	3.8	0.0
Dundee City	13.3	9.7	0.9	0.0
Edinburgh, City of	18.0	15.8	4.4	0.0
Fife	15.6	12.2	4.8	0.0
Glasgow City	20.1	17.2	5.5	0.2
North Lanarkshire	19.9	14.7	3.1	1.0
Renfrewshire	16.9	13.7	8.1	1.6
Male
Manual
Aberdeen City	31.8	24.2	8.3	0.0
Aberdeenshire	35.9	29.3	9.8	1.1
Dumfries and Galloway	42.0	30.9	7.4	1.2
Dundee City	44.2	36.8	10.5	1.1
East Ayrshire	37.5	28.6	10.7	0.0
Edinburgh, City of	43.5	38.2	13.8	1.2
Falkirk	25.0	21.4	4.8	1.2
Fife	35.8	29.0	7.3	0.5
Glasgow City	38.6	28.5	10.1	2.0
Highland	40.3	26.9	6.7	0.8
Inverclyde	31.8	25.0	4.5	0.0
North Ayrshire	36.8	28.1	12.3	0.0
North Lanarkshire	36.9	27.4	7.1	0.6
Perth and Kinross	41.5	29.2	4.6	1.5
Renfrewshire	28.7	25.5	10.6	1.1
South Ayrshire	32.3	26.2	4.6	1.5
South Lanarkshire	30.3	21.2	3.8	0.8
Stirling	33.3	27.8	5.6	0.0
West Lothian	30.3	22.0	7.3	1.8
Male
All
Aberdeen City	19.2	15.1	5.4	0.0
Aberdeenshire	24.8	20.5	6.2	0.6
Argyll and Bute	27.9	19.8	5.8	0.0
Dumfries and Galloway	32.8	24.8	5.8	0.7
Dundee City	27.4	22.1	5.3	0.5
East Ayrshire	28.4	21.1	6.4	0.0
Edinburgh, City of	25.7	22.6	7.2	0.4
Falkirk	23.4	17.7	4.0	0.6
Fife	27.1	21.8	6.2	0.3
Glasgow City	27.1	21.5	7.3	0.9
Highland	20.9	21.3	5.3	0.5
Midlothian	22.4	17.9	6.0	1.5
North Ayrshire	26.4	20.8	8.5	0.9
North Lanarkshire	27.9	20.6	5.0	0.8
Perth and Kinross	33.9	25.4	5.1	0.8
Renfrewshire	22.0	18.8	9.2	1.4
South Ayrshire	25.2	19.8	4.6	0.8
South Lanarkshire	24.9	18.1	4.2	0.4
West Lothian	25.6	20.0	6.7	1.1
Female
Non-manual
Aberdeen City	34.7	25.2	5.9	0.5
Angus	51.6	46.9	12.5	0.0
Dundee City	45.6	38.4	11.2	0.0
Edinburgh, City of	36.5	29.8	6.9	0.4
Fife	50.6	44.4	13.0	0.0
Glasgow City	41.8	34.7	9.5	0.3
Highland	49.2	43.8	18.5	0.0
North Ayrshire	47.2	39.6	17.0	0.0
North Lanarkshire	47.3	42.0	8.3	1.2
Perth and Kinross	46.7	41.3	15.2	0.0
South Lanarkshire	48.9	43.8	16.1	2.2
Female
Manual
Dundee City	82.1	71.4	32.1	3.6
Fife	90.0	81.7	45.0	8.3
Glasgow City	78.8	72.7	40.9	6.1
South Lanarkshire	82.5	75.0	40.0	0.0
Female
All
Aberdeen City	42.4	33.1	13.1	1.3
Angus	61.3	55.0	20.0	1.3
Scottish Borders, The	62.2	52.7	24.3	1.4
Dundee City	52.3	44.4	15.0	0.7
Edinburgh, City of	40.9	34.1	11.0	1.1
Fife	61.3	54.5	21.6	2.3
Glasgow City	45.3	38.2	12.4	0.8
Highland	53.1	48.3	20.7	0.7
Inverclyde	53.6	46.4	12.5	3.6
North Ayrshire	53.0	47.0	24.2	4.5
North Lanarkshire	52.0	47.0	13.6	2.5
Perth and Kinross	55.0	47.7	20.2	0.9
Renfrewshire	45.9	42.3	18.0	2.7
South Lanarkshire	56.5	50.8	21.5	1.7
All employees
Non-manual
Aberdeen City	22.5	17.0	4.8	0.2
Aberdeenshire	29.1	25.4	11.2	0.7
Angus	38.7	35.1	9.0	0.0
Dundee City	30.3	24.8	6.3	0.0
East Ayrshire	28.8	23.7	10.2	0.0
Edinburgh, City of	27.1	22.7	5.6	0.2
Falkirk	39.6	31.0	8.0	0.5
Fife	34.0	29.1	9.1	0.0
Glasgow City	31.6	26.4	7.6	0.2
Highland	36.7	31.7	12.4	0.0
Midlothian	21.4	17.9	1.8	1.8
North Ayrshire	31.4	26.5	10.8	1.0
North Lanarkshire	32.8	27.5	5.6	1.1
Perth and Kinross	38.6	33.8	11.7	0.0
Renfrewshire	28.1	24.4	11.5	2.3
South Ayrshire	29.1	25.2	7.1	0.8
South Lanarkshire	34.4	29.6	10.4	1.1
West Lothian	29.3	25.7	10.0	0.7
All employees
Manual
Aberdeen City	43.4	35.5	18.1	1.2
Aberdeenshire	52.0	43.3	22.8	5.5
Scottish Borders, The	68.3	58.7	27.0	1.6
Dumfries and Galloway	50.5	42.1	22.4	5.6
Dundee City	52.8	44.7	15.4	1.6
East Ayrshire	44.9	36.2	18.8	1.4
Edinburgh, City of	50.8	45.0	20.7	2.6
Falkirk	33.3	30.3	15.2	4.0
Fife	48.6	41.5	16.2	2.4
Glasgow City	44.9	35.4	15.0	2.6
Highland	45.5	33.6	10.4	1.5
Inverclyde	37.3	30.5	10.2	3.4
North Ayrshire	44.3	37.1	20.0	4.3
North Lanarkshire	43.1	34.5	12.7	2.0
Perth and Kinross	53.7	40.2	13.4	2.4
Renfrewshire	33.9	31.3	13.4	0.9
South Ayrshire	40.8	35.5	10.5	2.6
South Lanarkshire	42.4	33.7	12.2	0.6
Stirling	47.8	43.5	17.4	4.3
West Lothian	36.8	27.8	12.8	1.5
All employees
All
Aberdeen City	28.2	22.1	8.4	0.5
Aberdeenshire	40.2	34.1	16.9	3.1
Angus	46.2	40.4	14.0	1.2
Argyll and Bute	38.1	29.1	11.2	1.5
Scottish Borders, The	50.9	43.4	16.8	0.6
Dumfries and Galloway	44.5	38.6	16.8	3.2
Dundee City	38.0	31.6	9.4	0.6
East Ayrshire	34.8	28.3	13.4	0.5
East Lothian	29.3	25.3	9.3	2.7
Edinburgh, City of	32.2	27.6	8.9	0.7
Falkirk	37.4	30.8	10.5	1.7
Fife	40.6	34.7	12.3	1.1
Glasgow City	35.0	28.7	9.5	0.9
Highland	40.1	32.4	11.6	0.6
Inverclyde	37.7	32.6	9.4	1.4
Midlothian	28.9	24.7	7.2	2.1
North Ayrshire	36.6	30.8	14.5	2.3
North Lanarkshire	36.4	30.0	8.1	1.4
Perth and Kinross	44.1	36.1	12.3	0.9
Renfrewshire	30.1	26.7	12.2	1.8
South Ayrshire	33.5	29.1	8.4	1.5
South Lanarkshire	37.6	31.2	11.1	0.9
West Lothian	33.0	26.7	11.4	1.1

2 Feb 2001 : Column: 346W

	Average Earnings (£)
	Average weekly gross earnings for full-time employees for Great Britain
All employees
Non-Manual	452.39
Manual	323.61
All	410.62
	Average weekly gross earnings for full-time employees for Scotland
All employees
Non-manual	414.22
Manual	312.37
All	379.83
	Average weekly gross earnings for full-time employees for unitary authorities in Scotland
All employees
Non-manual
Aberdeen City	481.88
Aberdeenshire	444.22
Angus	375.65
Dundee City	398.62
East Ayrshire	407.73
Edinburgh, City of	433.22
Falkirk	391.83
Fife	383.05
Glasgow City	419.57
Highland	369.49
Midlothian	416.61
North Ayrshire	374.75
North Lanarkshire	403.11
Perth and Kinross	348.07
Renfrewshire	418.48
South Ayrshire	416.62
South Lanarkshire	415.73
West Lothian	436.34
Manual
Aberdeen City	348.52
Aberdeenshire	294.10
Scottish Borders, The	260.52
Dumfries and Galloway	274.54
Dundee City	291.64
East Ayrshire	292.17
Edinburgh, City of	300.96
Falkirk	355.44
Fife	298.02
Glasgow City	311.47
Highland	322.82
Inverclyde	316.04
North Ayrshire	305.86
North Lanarkshire	318.23
Perth and Kinross	305.81
Renfrewshire	353.30
South Ayrshire	335.40
South Lanarkshire	337.68
Stirling	279.38
West Lothian	328.88
All
Aberdeen City	445.35
Aberdeenshire	371.18
Angus	342.05
Argyll and Bute	378.81
Scottish Borders, The	326.33
Dumfries and Galloway	330.36
Dundee City	362.17
East Ayrshire	365.09
East Lothian	361.85
Edinburgh, City of	404.64
Falkirk	379.23
Fife	344.77
Glasgow City	391.84
Highland	351.72
Inverclyde	356.85
Midlothian	375.60
North Ayrshire	346.72
North Lanarkshire	373.09
Perth and Kinross	332.80
Renfrewshire	396.29
South Ayrshire	386.21
South Lanarkshire	385.36
West Lothian	383.99

2 Feb 2001 : Column: 347W

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