THE WAGES OF THE WORKING CLASSES [To the Editor of
THE SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—Mr. Spender and Mr. Cyril Asquith both assume that " eighty per cent. of the working classes have higher real wages than ever they had." It is a very extravagant assumption. Two factors are left out of account. The two million unemployed are not always the same—at least half the working-classes have their spell of unemployment : this reduces the average wage very considerably. Then rents are much higher for the majority of the workers than any tabulated figures would suggest. Hundreds of thousands who paid from 7s. to 10s. per week in pre-War days now pay from 12s. 6d. to 25s. The decontrol of working-class houses has caused as much distress as the Means Test. Moreover, apart from real wages, insecurity of employment affects the workers more than in pre-War days.—.I am,
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