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anufacturing productivity, and, therefore, higher national incomes in the Community than the member countries believe they would have enjoyed otherwise. Moreover, the increase in productivity was accompanied by a low level of unemployment, even though large numbers of farm workers left the land for industry.
51. The rate of growth of manufacturing output per head in the five major Community countries had already been at a generally high level over the 1950s and early 1960s, faster than in nearly all other comparable industrial economies. In the latter half of the 1960s, however, this growth rate showed a further marked increase (with the one exception of Italy, where the very high rate achieved in the earlier period was not quite maintained).
52. The rapid growth in manufacturing productivity in the Six was a key factor in their impressive economic record in the past decade. But other indicators also show clearly the extent of the advances made by comparison with the United Kingdom. For example, in 1958 average earnings in Britain were similar to those in France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and well over half as high again as those in Italy. By 1969 average earnings in Italy had caught up with British earnings, and in the other Community countries, earnings were now between a quarter and a half higher on average than those in Britain. In real terms (i.e., after allowing for price inflation), average British earnings had increased by less than 40 per cent between 1958 and 1969, while in the Community countries average real earnings had gone up over 75 per cent. Similarly, all the Community countries enjoyed rates of growth of gross national product (GNP) per head of population, or of private consumption per head, roughly twice as great as Britain's
53. Moreover, at the same time a high proportion of the Community's output continued to be channelled into investment, so providing the basis for further rapid growth. In the period 1959-69, the Six devoted 24 per cent of their GNP to investment, whereas the figure for Britain was 17 per cent. 54. Finally, the Community as a whole have maintained a strong balance of payments position, earning a surplus on current account of more than $25,000 million over the period 1958 to 1969; by comparison the United Kingdom had a small cumulative deficit on current account over these years.
Prospects for our economy
55. This, then, has been the experience of the Community. It is the conviction of the Governments, of the industries, and of the trade unions in the Six countries that their economic progress has been promoted in large measure by the changes brought about by the creation of the Community. The economic structure of the United Kingdom is in many respects similar to that of the member countries of the Community. We, like they, are a highly industrialised society, without large indigenous resources of raw materials, and thus heavily dependent upon foreign trade. Like the three larger members of the Community-which in size of population are closely comparable to ourselves-we have a widely diversified industrial structure, which has great potential for development in a larger market.
56. In the light of the experience of the Six themselves, and their conviction that the creation of the Community materially contributed to
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