Are the Working Classes Better Off ?
Statistics and observation alike confirm the fact that the employed working classes are, on the average, some- what better off than they were before the War. But, unfortunately, time improvement does not apply to certain sections. The Ministry of Labour figures show that, whilst the percentage increase in the cost of living (last December) was 43, the average full-time rate of wage was 64 per cent. above the 1914 level. But since the average working day has been shortened, the increase in hourly rates is higher, being more than 80 per cent. When we examine the figures for different trades, we discover, as was to be expected, that the sheltered trades—such as -building, railways and internal transport generally— have benefited most ; whereas the skilled workers in such staple industries as engineering, shipbuilding and wool, though they have secured shorter hours, have improved their position very little in respect of real wages. The most satisfactory feature of the inquiry is that in the great majority of trades the lowest paid class of all, that of the labourers, is the class which has secured the most substantial improvement. But there are two very dark spots in the picture. Real weekly wages in the spinning section of the cotton industry tend to be lower than, or at best equal to, pre-War earnings ; and in the depressed mining areas of Northumberland, Dmirham, Scotland and• South Wales they are lamentably belo* that level. No wonder there is clamour for the reform of the coal industry.
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