asked the Taoiseach the real increase in the (a) average male industrial wages and (b) average female industrial wages over the past nine years.
Written Answers. - Industrial Wages.
274.
The table below relates the increases in average weekly earnings of male and female industrial workers (on adult rates of pay) from a week in September 1969 (the first period for which this data is available) to a week in June 1978 (the latest available) to the movement in the consumer price index in that period.
(1)
Average weekly earnings of Industrial workers in Transportable Goods Industries
|
Male |
Female |
|
|
(adult rates) |
(adult rates) |
|
|
Percentage increase in the period September 1969 to June 1978 |
+317.9% |
+384.8% |
(2)
Consumer price index
|
Percentage increase in the period mid-August 1969 to mid-May 1978 |
+183.9% |
(3)
Percentage increase in "real" weekly earnings (i.e. actual weekly earnings related to the consumer price index)
|
Male industrial worker |
Female industrial worker |
|
(adult rates) |
(adult rates) |
|
+47.2% |
+70.8% |